Delusional
by Charmed-and-More
Summary: Now a full fic. House Xover. No PP. House pre-season 4. Amity Park's in trouble and Danny's stuck in New Jersey with a doctor who won't release him until he's "better." But how can House cure his patient without realizing he's only half human? DxS
1. Chapter 1: News

**Hey, thanks to the awesome 15 reviews I received for the one-shot Delusional (which you might have noticed I'm keeping attached to this as sort of a preview I guess), I have decided to turn it into a multi-chapter fic! So here is the first chapter, starring Dr. House (by far the coolest man on TV right now). Oh and this is starting at the beginning of the story, so way before that one shot. Enjoy!**

"House." House winced. Normally, he would have enjoyed the sound of his only female employee attempting to wake him up . . . the enticing way her voice called his name . . . the gentle touch of her hand on his shoulder . . .

But not today. Today his leg hurt. More than usual. Last night had been no walk in the park (to use a rather ironic metaphor) as he had been unable to fall asleep despite the Vicodin-and-bourbon cocktail he had gulped down.

Wilson had diagnosed it as "just your usual dose of mid-month misery," and then gone on to explain how his never-happy friend had to be on an especially low low at least once a month just so he could make sure he maintained the title of "most miserable human being on the planet."

House knew there was more to it than that.

"House," Cameron, called again, sounding impatient. House opened one eye to see his entire team peering down at him. He was reclined in the chair at the front of his office. Though it was the most comfortable place to nap (or _attempt_ to nap), as far as visibility goes he was way too exposed.

"The ER is extremely short-staffed and over-flowing with patients," Cameron explained, "Cuddy has asked us to go down there and help out."

"And this was important enough that you had to wake me up, _how_?" House responded in his signature you're-being-an-idiot tone.

Foreman, Chase, and Cameron shared a look.

"We just thought we should tell you where we are in case you needed us," Chase replied earnestly.

"And there's always the off-chance that you might want to actually help out too," Foreman put in with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Sorry," House was quick to retort, "held the door open for an old woman on my way in this morning, 'fraid that means I've reached my quota for helping people today, too bad. You guys have fun though."

With more than one eye roll, the team turned their backs on their cranky boss and headed down the hall to the elevator.

House closed his eyes and attempted to go back to attempting to nap, but his stomach growled. Cuddy would come looking for him soon anyways. So with an exasperated sigh, he lifted himself out of the chair, wincing as he put some weight on his bum leg.

After a trip to the break room fridge (which resulted in the successful recon mission of somebody else's lunch), House entered the elevator. The ER was on the first floor. House hit the button for the third.

The elevator doors slid open and House poked his head out. After carefully scanning the hall for signs of Cuddy (or anyone that would rat him out to her) and finding none, he stepped out of the elevator, leaning heavily on his cane, and made his way down the hall to the room he retreated to for lunch when he wanted peace and quiet. A coma patient's room.

He headed down the hall. There was only one room on the entire floor that still got cable and the guy that roomed there had been asleep for years. It was the perfect place for House when he wanted to do nothing but be alone and watch his soaps.

House stopped dead in his tracks when he reached the room. Only problem was he couldn't be alone when the patient in the room was wide-awake. Like this one.

Dr. House stared at the black-haired boy sitting up in the hospital bed . . . awake and clearly not in a coma . . . in the room that he planned on getting some much needed sleep in. The room that was now occupied by a noisy teenager.

The boy was staring at the TV. The TV that House had planned on watching his soaps on. The TV that now was in the boy's control, preventing House from watching his soaps.

This was wrong. Coma patients weren't supposed to be wide-awake. And wide-awake patients weren't supposed to be in the coma section of the hospital.

"Why are you here?" House asked aloud.

"Good question," the boy replied, his gaze not once leaving the TV. Okay, so maybe he wasn't noisy. But still, he couldn't sleep with this kid in the room. House took steps closer to the hospital bed. The kid had clearly been in some sort of accident. There were scratches on his face and a large bandage covering his right shoulder and part of his chest. Maybe he was overflow from the ER.

House walked farther into the room to see what was on the TV that had the boy's interest. He looked to be about 14 . . . do they still watch cartoons when they're 14? House looked at the TV. It wasn't cartoons. It was news.

"You're watching the news?" he asked, trying to sound both condescending and disbelieving at the same time. He thought he had succeeded.

"You have a problem with that?" the teen snapped back.

Yet, the boy didn't seem to notice. Or care. Teenagers. House mentally rolled his eyes. "Yes, as a matter of fact I do," he replied and snatched the remote off the kid's bed.

"Hey!" the boy protested as House flicked to the channel _General Hospital_ comes on. "Who are you anyways?"

"Relax, I'm a doctor," House assured him, slightly pleased at having finally gotten a reaction from the kid that wasn't dripping with teenage arrogance.

"You don't look like a doctor." And it's back again.

"And you don't look like you're in a coma," House shot back as he settled into a nearby chair, propping his feet up on the bed.

"Uh no," the boy replied, sitting up more in his hospital bed, "why would I-"

"Because this is the coma wing of the hospital," House explained before he could finish asking. "Notice there's only about two nurses on call up here and it's so quiet you could hear a mouse having a myocardial infarction."

"A what?"

"Just proving I'm a doctor," House said with a smug smile. "We know big words like that."

The boy merely slumped back against his pillows, looking defeated.

House's show hadn't started yet and for some reason he felt intrigued by the young intruder (intruder in House's eyes that is). He may not have been as big a mystery as one of House's regular patients, but a little mystery was about all House's sleep-deprived mind could handle right now anyways. He decided to do a little investigating.

"So which doctor was such an idiot that they couldn't tell the difference between someone in a coma and someone who seems to be only suffering from a . . ." House paused to examine the boy's injuries more closely, "I'm gonna say bike accident?"

"Sure," the kid replied, sounding bored.

House thought the answer was odd but continued, "So who was it? If you don't know names, you can just describe-"

"There you are!" House and the still nameless teenager turned to see Cuddy standing at the doorway of their room.

"Well, there's your answer," the boy said.

"Crud, you couldn't have told me sooner?" House complained, annoyed that Cuddy had found him. "'It was the devil herself!' or something like that would have been a nice hint!"

The teen just gave House a weird look and then turned back to Cuddy. "Is he really a doctor?"

Cuddy sighed. "Yes, but don't listen to anything he tells you," she warned, walking over to the bed.

"You. ER. Now." She instructed House.

"But mo-om!" House whined.

"I don't want to hear it," Cuddy snapped. Then she turned on a smile and said to the boy, "How are you feeling? Do you remember anything yet?"

"Uhh . . ."

"Remember anything? You think the kid has amnesia?" House scoffed.

"Well what would you call it when a teenager with multiple trauma wounds is brought to the ER and can't remember how he got them?"

House glanced over at the boy next to him. He was looking down, not meeting either doctor's gaze. "I would call it lying."

The boy still didn't look up.

"There's no reason to assume-" Cuddy started to object.

"He's not scared," House stated plainly.

"Well he was when-"

"When he was around people he knew were doctors?" House guessed.

Cuddy's silence proved him correct.

"What's your name?" House asked the boy.

For a while there was only silence, then a simple, "Doesn't matter."

"Honey, of course it matters," Cuddy cooed, kneeling down to be at her patient's eye level. "Is this about your parents? Do you not want them to know you were doing something dangerous?"

The boy snorted and leaned back with his eyes closed. He dragged his hands across his face with a sigh. "It doesn't matter if you try to call my parents. You won't be able to reach them," he stated quietly.

"What, why?" Cuddy stammered, eyebrows knit together in confusion.

The teen suddenly snatched the remote from House and changed the channel back to the news station.

Cuddy and House had no choice but to watch and gawk at the eerie scene that had filled the screen.

"A strange, purple glowing dome, a force field of some kind, has surrounded the city of Amity Park," a reporter was explaining, "cutting it off from the rest of the world completely. It has become apparent to us now that those trapped inside the city are without any type of phone or Internet service. Any attempts to contact the occupants of the city have failed, as have the efforts to break through the dome. No word yet on what or who may be causing this bizarre situation either. Stay with us as we wait to find out more. I'm Tracy Wells with Channel 5."

"That's why," the boy simply stated.

**Before anybody asks, yes, the nameless kid is Danny. I tried to make it obvious. This had to be written from House's point of view so I couldn't just outright say it. **

**Sorry this was kinda short. I could have kept going but I feel like posting it as is and I'm so busy I don't know when I would get around to finishing it. Better to give ya a little something rather than nothing, I figured. So yah dunno when I'll have time to write chapter 2 but I will try to make it soon. **

**Special thanks to those 15 reviewers I mentioned earlier: Valek, Neko Danny, Invader Johnny, SamZ, magic tink 101, Luiz4200, definenormalAB, jetblack, rae, Miriam1, WolfDaughter, Zuzanny, SumikaAmayaOblivion, inukagome15, and PunkMichPhantom! Luv you guys! : )**


	2. Chapter 2: Lies

**Hey, sorry updates are so slow. I'm really busy and I don't see that changing any time soon so please bear with me! Thanks and enjoy!**

Danny sighed as he watched the two doctors quietly talking outside his room. He had lied in the ER about a lot of things, but now he had told them the truth about his parents. He couldn't decide which was worse. Lying to doctors was probably not a smart idea. But he hadn't been completely untruthful. He really did have no memory of the actual fight that had left him with a giant gash on his shoulder, among other cuts and bruises. The most frustrating part was he couldn't even remember _who _had done this to him.

The attack had come so quickly. The dome had appeared first; he had gone to check it out. That much he remembered . . . but then everything went blurry . . . pain . . . darkness . . . waking up in an ambulance. Oh and how could he forget, he was completely powerless. His ghost half was still there. That much he could tell. But it was out of his reach . . . or there wasn't enough energy for his human half to use to get to it or something like that.

And so for now here he was. Stuck in a hospital as a shady kid from a crazy town. This could not end well.

The doctors came back into the room, interrupting Danny's pity party. He watched them wearily. The woman, Dr. Cuddy, seemed nice enough, a little stressed, but nice. And stressed, in Danny's case, was actually a good thing. It meant maybe she'd be too stressed out to notice one of her patients slip away . . . when his powers returned, that is.

The male doctor on the other hand was . . . different. Really different. What kind of doctor never wears a white coat? And comes into coma patients' rooms to eat lunch and watch TV? And talks about his boss like she's the devil? To her face even!

"David?" Cuddy called, coming to stand beside the bed.

Danny almost didn't respond. He forgot he had changed his name when Dr. House had asked for it before they left the room. It just seemed like a bad idea to give his real name in case they looked it up and saw that he was the son of the world's leading experts on ghosts, a topic he'd rather not come up during his hospital stay.

"Yes?" Danny quickly replied, before he looked even more suspicious.

"I have to go back to the ER, but I've asked Dr. House to stay here to keep an eye on you," Cuddy explained, "Is that alright with you?"

Danny snuck a look at the crippled doctor who had returned to his chair and sandwich on the other side of the bed. House glanced up as well. They shared a look for a moment before Danny turned back to Cuddy.

"Sure. It's fine," Danny answered, trying to sound sincere. House's look had been the kind that said, "I know you're hiding things and I'm going to find out what they are." The smart thing to do would have been to avoid being alone with the man at all costs after that. But Danny didn't see a way to make that possible. And even if the Doc did manage to squeeze his secrets from him, it's not like he would actually believe any of them. So far as Danny could tell, New Jersey was far enough away from his hometown that no one here believed in ghosts. They thought everything the news reported about Amity Park was some kind of hoax.

Even now, with the knowledge that there was a glowing dome imprisoning hundreds of people, including a patient's parents, Dr. Cuddy was able to smile down at Danny as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

"Dr. House knows how to reach me if you need anything."

"She means if I start to insult you or just plain act like a jerk," House clarified around the sandwich in his mouth.

Cuddy sighed. "He's harmless, I promise," she assured Danny. "Behave," she commanded House. And then she left.

"Looks like it's just you and me, kiddo," House said.

"Uh huh," Danny replied dismissively, trying to pretend like the TV had captured his attention again, but House had switched it to some soap opera. Was this guy for real?!

"So do things like glowing domes happen often in your town?" House started in on the questioning.

Danny turned to study the man sitting casually at his bedside, also pretending to be engrossed with the TV. He was trying to act like he was only asking out of simple curiosity. Danny knew better. He wasn't about to make this easy.

"I'm sure you've heard the stories," he replied, returning to his previous demeanor of arrogant teenager.

"Are they true?" House immediately asked in response.

"Which ones?" Danny shot back.

This got House to actually face him. Danny easily gazed back, feigning innocence.

"You're seriously not going to try to convince me that your town really is overrun with ghosts?" House asked, dropping his casual act. "Or are you not aware that the rest of this country looks down upon you as just a city full of crazies?"

"I'm just a teenager, why would I care what my hometown's reputation is?"

"You don't mind being called crazy?"

"Do you think I'm crazy?"

There was silence for a few seconds, during which House and Danny simply stared at each other.

"No." House finally broke the tension and leaned back in his chair, opening a small bag of chips that had been in the brown bag with the sandwich. "But you're lying," he added almost nonchalantly.

"About what?" Danny asked, getting defensive.

"How should I know?" House replied as if it was obvious.

"Then how do you know I'm lying if you don't even know what I'm lying about?!" Danny felt a surge of energy from his ghost half as he became frustrated with the weird doctor.

"Simple, everyone lies."

Danny barely heard the doctor as he realized whatever had been keeping him locked out of his powers was finally wearing off! Suddenly, it didn't matter what this doctor thought or what Danny told him. In a few minutes, he'd be outta here! Danny smiled. Now he could go where he was needed! His family, Sam, Tucker, they were all in danger, he just knew it and-

Pain. Agonizing pain. It ripped through him, causing him to cry out and grab on to the edges of the bed as what felt like an electric current of infinite magnitude coursed through him. It reminded him of something, but he was in too much pain to think about it.

Then it was gone. Just as quickly as it had come. He was sweating and breathing hard, but other than that the zap had left him exactly the same. There wasn't any lingering pain at all.

"You still with me, kid?" House asked in a rather serious tone.

The doctor, Danny had forgotten all about him for a second. Now he was really gonna think he was hiding something. But it didn't matter anymore because . . . why didn't it matter anymore? Oh yah, his powers. They were . . . gone. They were gone again?! But they'd been coming back! He could feel it! And now . . . oh. That's what the shock had reminded him of . . . the Plasmius Maximus. Only worse. This wasn't a good sign.

He looked over at House who had pulled out his phone. "Get the musketeers, we have a case," he said curtly into the receiver before flipping the cell shut. He then began putting up the sides of the bed and unlocking the wheels.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked, his voice coming out more ragged than he had hoped.

"Moving you to a different wing of the hospital," House stated as he began pushing the bed towards the door.

"Why?"

"Why?" House repeated in disbelief. "To figure out what that was. Most kids don't have sudden outbursts of excruciating pain, or is that not the case when it comes to crazy kids from Amity Park?"

"You think I'm sick?" Danny tried to clarify, ignoring the sarcasm.

"Possibly. Lucky for you, I'm a diagnostician who specializes in these kind of cases."

"And what kind would that be?"

"The abnormal kind," House returned dryly.

Danny rolled his eyes. Abnormal. He had _no_ idea.

"I've seen something like this before," House continued, actually sounding serious, "turned out to be radiation poisoning from a piece of scrap metal. You been around anything that could have been radioactive? Metal? Waste?"

Danny thought of all the ghost attacks in the past weeks, the things he'd been hit with, the buildings he'd been thrown into . . . "Not that I know of," he answered.

House gave him a scrutinizing look.

"But I wouldn't rule it out completely," he admitted reluctantly with a sigh.

They had made it to the elevator. The doors opened to reveal three people in white coats Danny could only assume were more doctors. House barked some orders at them and they scattered.

"Hi David." The only woman out of the three was suddenly in his face. "I'm Dr. Cameron," she explained, "I understand your parents are unreachable, but don't worry, we're going to take good care of you in the meantime."

"Yah that's what I'm afraid of," Danny grumbled to himself.

**Yah, sorry it's kinda short. I'm gonna try to get the next chapter out sooner, but no promises. Thanks to all you reviewers! You're the ones keeping me going!**


	3. Chapter 3: Secrets

**Wow, I got this finished quicker than I expected. If the fourth one doesn't come before Thanksgiving, then don't expect another update till mid-December cuz I have finals and papers to write. **

**A few notes: one, thanks to WolfDaughter for keeping me on my toes. Last chapter I said "wearily" when I meant "warily." Must have been a reflection of how I was feeling when I wrote the chapter . . . cuz I was tired. Yah, lame joke. Anyways, secondly, keep in mind that David is really Danny. I use David when it's from any of the House characters' points of view cuz they don't know his real name. Thanks and enjoy.**

Chase entered the patient's room to find the poor kid fast asleep. He paused at the doorway and simply observed the snoozing teenager. After the battery of tests they had put him through for the past few hours, it was to be expected that he'd be tired.

"He was so nervous," Chase recalled, thinking to himself, "even during the most simplest of procedures." He felt sorry for the teen, sick in the hospital without his parents. No one could blame him for being scared. He crept forward to replace the medicine bag hanging by the bed. They had the kid on something that was supposed to keep one of those shocks from happening again. So far, so good.

Chase was just about finished when David suddenly jerked in his sleep. At first Chase thought it was a shock and the kid would wake up screaming at any second. But then David relaxed and simply turned over, his back to Chase now.

After a quick check of all the vital stats, Chase felt assured that nothing was wrong. He turned to leave, but something caught his eye. He swiveled back around and stared down at David's back.

"What's that?" he wondered. Through the thin hospital gown he could see a neon green coloring on David's back, just below the neck. He carefully tugged the gown at the collar to get a better look. To Chase's surprise it revealed what appeared to be a tattoo of a green bat with red eyes and fangs. Chase chuckled to himself. He would never have pegged David as the type to get a tattoo.

"Just goes to show," he thought as he left, "everyone has secrets."

* * *

Sam stared up at the giant building that loomed before her and gulped. Princeton-Plainsboro. A hospital. He was in a hospital?! Was he hurt? Was he conscious? Was he even alive?! The questions swirled around in her head, leaving her temporarily paralyzed.

Finally, she was able to pull herself together. With a deep breath she started walking towards the entrance, her hands wrapped tightly around the broken piece of ghost technology (the Boo-oo-merang) that had led her here before it crashed into a window.

* * *

"So, he's stable?" Wilson asked without looking up from the charts he was signing at the nurse's station in the ER.

"He's fine, everything's fine, the kid is perfectly healthy aside from the fact that a few hours ago he was in agonizing pain," House complained to his friend.

"But only for a few seconds," Wilson reminded him.

"Let's say your hand spasms," House replied, suddenly smacking the hand Wilson was carefully using to fill out his paperwork.

Wilson glared up from his ruined chart. "Don't worry," House continued snidely, "it only lasted a few seconds. I'm sure everything's fine." He turned to leave and Wilson caught his arm.

"House," Wilson said in what House referred to as his lecture-voice. Never the less, he did stop and turn to hear his only friend out.

"There's nothing there," Wilson told him, "You just want there to be. You don't want to focus on your own issues so you're looking for a mystery where there isn't one."

"I thought we just went over the whole just-because-the-something-that-was-there-is-gone-now-doesn't-mean-it's-not-a-problem-anymore thing," House snapped back.

"He's a trauma patient, House," Wilson returned, "Look at the bigger picture."

"Bigger picture," House repeated slowly, getting that far-away look in his eyes. "Gotta go," he said quickly before turning and going to the elevator.

Wilson sighed and went back to his charts. His concentration was broken again when he heard the shrill voice of a teenage girl coming from the front desk of the ER, a little ways from the nurses' station.

"Please, can you check again? Or let me look?"

"I'm sorry dear," the nurse on duty at the front desk replied, "there's no one here by that name."

Wilson watched the girl as her face fell and then contorted with anger.

"Then can't I just-" she attempted to go around the desk and into the ER, but the nurse held out a hand, blocking her way.

Wilson didn't know why, but he suddenly found himself coming to the girl's aid.

"I'll take care of it," he told the nurse.

The nurse shrugged and went back to work. Wilson looked down at the girl that was his responsibility now somehow. She was what the teenagers these days would label a "goth," with her clothes mostly black and a backpack shaped like a spider on her back. Her edgy look was softened by the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes, which were now glued to him and clouded with distrust.

Wilson cleared his throat nervously. "Hi, I'm Dr. Wilson."

The girl nodded, but didn't speak.

"As you can see," Wilson went on, motioning behind him, "we're pretty packed today and kind of short-staffed. I'm an oncologist, a cancer doctor, so I'm not normally in the ER, but I've been here for most of the day. Are you looking for someone?"

The girl hesitated but then spoke. "Yes, my friend, he . . . I think he's here."

"Okay, and what is his name?"

"Danny, Danny Fenton." The girl's voice showed hope.

"Well, the nurse checked the computer but it's possible he's not in there even though he's here because he's, well, that is-" Wilson fumbled his words, trying his best to not upset the girl in front of him.

"He could be unconscious or something?" she finished for him, showing her strength and handle on the situation.

Wilson cleared his throat again. "Right." He paused as he tried to think of how he could help. "Maybe you could describe him and I could . . . what's your name?"

"Sam."

"Sam, why don't you come with me and we'll look for him together? Does that sound good?"

Sam nodded and followed him into the ER.

* * *

House entered his patient's room and found the boy awake and watching the news again.

"Hey, need to ask you some questions," he stated, coming to stand directly in front of the teen.

David stared back with a guarded expression, but muted the TV.

"Your accident, what happened?" House asked.

"I told you, I don't know," Danny replied dismissively, "can't remember."

"But you were lying about not remembering," House pointed out.

"I lied about not being able to remember my name," David explained, "but I was telling the truth about the accident. I blacked out, don't remember a thing."

"So what were you doing before then?" House shot back.

"Before what?"

He was being difficult on purpose. House rolled his eyes. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Oh." Silence. He appeared to be thinking about it. "Well, there was an explosion . . ." the teen finally began.

"See, it's details like that that just might be kind of impor-"

"I wasn't anywhere near it," David quickly snapped at House before he could finish. "It was at City Hall. The town started panicking, like they always do. My parents told my older sister to grab me and run . . . to get out of the city."

House waited for him to go on.

"We were in the woods on the outskirts of town when something came at us from behind . . . that's the last thing I remember."

* * *

"No, that's not him, thanks though."

Wilson sighed as they exited the ER. "I'm sorry," he told Sam sincerely, "maybe you should try the hospital in the next town over. Where are you both from?"

"Oh uh, we're from Amity Park but-"

"Amity Park? Wait a second." Wilson thought back to everything House had said about his current patient. Hadn't he said something about the patient's parents being in Amity? Wilson looked down at the girl. "Follow me," he instructed, heading towards the elevators, "there's one more possibility."

* * *

House picked up the boy's chart. "David," he read off it, "David . . . Foley. Hm, I'll check the ER every now and then to see if your sister comes in, maybe she'll actually remember something." He put the chart down to study the patient's reaction.

David nodded solemnly. "Thanks," he said after a few beats.

House nodded curtly and turned to go. "Oh, one more thing," he said, facing his patient again, "are you telling the truth this time?"

"What?"

"Your name . . . your story . . . you gonna stick to them this time?"

"Why would I-"

"Is it the truth?" House questioned firmly.

"Of course it's the-" David started, but he was cut off.

"Danny?!"

They both turned to see Wilson at the door, a teenage girl at his side.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so glad I found you!" the girl exclaimed, running up to the bed and throwing her arms around the patient.

Danny returned the hug, but caught the eyes of the doctor on him.

"So . . . Danny . . ." House began with a smug smile, "you were saying?"

**Only one more chapter before I'm at where the preview comes in. I think. We'll see. And I'll probably re-post the preview with a few changes that are obviously necessary.**

**Ooh! Question for you guys! I already know who the main villain is gonna be (and you might be able to tell already too). But I want to bring in two other villains. They have to be ghosts and capable of being semi-civil. I was gonna use Skulker and someone, but I ALWAYS use Skulker. (Don't ask me why cuz I really don't know.) So anyways, lemme know if there's someone you think would be good (even if it's Skulker) and I'll think about it. Thanks! :)**


	4. Chapter 4: Stats

**30 favorites. 49 alerts. That's the most I've ever had. Wow. Thank you! Here's a late Christmas present for y'all:**

Cuddy paced back and forth in front of the two teenagers seated in her office. House and Wilson stood behind her as if they were back-up. "As if" being the key phrase there.

"I'm going to ask you again for your names," she said slowly in a tone normally saved for reprimanding employees . . . er employee. House was really the only one that ever needed scolding. "And I want the truth this time." She stopped directly in front of David/Danny. "Do you understand?"

The boy nodded solemnly.

"So, let's hear it," she commanded.

The boy let out a long sigh. "Danny," he stated, "my name is really Danny."

"And your last name?"

Another big sigh. "Fenton. Daniel Fenton."

House mock-gasped. "No! Fenton? Isn't that? Oh no wait, I've never heard that name before." The sarcastic comment was followed by a condescending snort. "Seriously, was that really so hard?" he asked.

Danny just looked down at his hands.

"Is he really a doctor?" Sam suddenly asked.

"Why does everyone keep asking that?" House asked, pretending to be truly baffled.

"Oh I don't know," Wilson replied, "could be any number of things. Your refusal to dress the part could be one as could your total disregard for the feelings of others, especially your patients."

House shared a look with his best friend. "Nah," he then replied dismissively. "It's more likely my inability to properly diagnose my patients, especially when _they lie to me_." He had turned to Danny now, making sure he knew those last few words were meant for him.

"I told you I don't remember the accident and I am telling the truth," Danny spat at the jerk of a doctor, "I know that kind of stuff would have been important for finding out what was wrong with me. What I don't see the relevance of is my name."

Cuddy once again tried to smooth things out. "It's important for minors to give us their full names so we can alert their paren-"

"My parents," Danny began disrespectfully, struggling to remain polite for the nice doctor, "are unreachable. There's nothing I can do about that."

"We understand that, it's just that we-" Cuddy was cut off again. This time by House.

"If your parents are really unable to be contacted, then why do you care so much about us knowing your last name?"

The question hung in the air for a while. When it was clear Danny didn't have an answer, Cuddy tried to regain control of the situation.

"Look," she said gently but with enough authority to override the awkwardness brought on by House's unanswered question, "I know this is hard. You're feeling better, you want to leave with your friend and try to get back in contact with your parents, but you have to understand, you were in some kind of accident, we treated you, technically we're now in charge of you and we can't just let you leave. You're both mi-"

The clackity-clack of computer keys interrupted Cuddy's train of thought and she turned around to see House on her computer. She shot him a look.

"Sorry, emergency e-mail check," House explained, "I'm waiting for confirmation that my order from has been shipped."

Cuddy merely glared before turning back to the teenagers in front of her, who seemed to be genuinely paying attention to her lecture . . . unlike some people.

"As I was saying, you're both minors. The hospital needs documentation that you left with an adult guardian. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're stuck here for now, unless there's someone not in Amity Park you could call?"

Danny and Sam exchanged glances. They seemed to be silently running through their options . . . or coming up with more lies? Cuddy couldn't help but be suspicious.

Danny finally opened his mouth to reply.

"Got it!" House suddenly cried out.

"Would you behave for like five minutes?!" Cuddy suddenly exploded. She whipped around to face House and bent over her desk so she could reproach him privately.

"I'm finally getting him to talk and you keep interrupting!" she hissed. "You wanted answers to all of your questions and if you would just let me continue you might actually get them!"

"I'm not interested in whether or not they have any relatives outside of Funky Town," House replied smartly, loud enough for Danny and Sam to hear. "You ask lame questions." He rose from the desk chair.

Cuddy straightened up and looked taken aback.

"A much cooler and important question would be . . ." House allowed some dramatic tension to build before looking Danny straight in the eyes and asking, "Do you hunt ghosts?"

Danny glared back, but Cuddy didn't notice. "What kind of question is that?!" she exclaimed.

"A reasonable one," House was quick to reply, "once you've Googled his name and found out that his parents are actually the world's leading experts on all things . . ." He looked down at the computer screen and read slowly, "ect-o-plas-mic, I believe is the proper term."

Cuddy looked confused.

"Ghosts," House explained, "They're ghost hunters and researchers."

Cuddy crossed her arms. "And the medical relevance of this is?"

"He was in an accident," House stated, "that he _claims_ he can't remember in the wake of a crisis in his ghost-obsessed town." He set his icy blue eyes back on Danny. "You also claimed to not remember your last name linking you to your ghost-obsessed parents."

"So?" Danny said to fill the silence when House paused.

"So . . . you're hiding something . . . about ghosts."

Cuddy sighed. Sam looked alarmed.

"You think there's more?" Danny asked sounding confused.

House simply nodded.

"But that was it."

Cuddy now stopped rubbing her forehead with her hand and looked at the boy with interest. "You mean you were . . . hiding these things?" she asked gently.

"Well yah, wouldn't you?" Danny replied.

Cuddy just gaped at him.

Danny sighed. "In my town, my parents actually fit in, but everywhere else," he paused, staring past the doctors, "everywhere else they're looked down upon. People think we're crazy. Whether you believe in ghosts or not doesn't matter. You still judge. I was just tired of it." Another pause. "That's why I hid my identity," Danny finished quietly, looking down.

The doctors exchanged looks.

* * *

"That's not why you hid your identity," Sam whispered in Danny's ear. They sat side by side in chairs outside of Dr. Cuddy's office. Danny's stats had all returned to normal so the administrator had not allowed House to continue keeping him as a patient. "Like it matters. We're still stuck here," Danny thought miserably.

"Ghost child," Sam added when Danny didn't respond right away.

"Of course it isn't, you didn't know I could act?" Danny finally shot back, misinterpreting Sam's reason for teasing him.

"Oh is that what you call that?" Sam returned. "Cuz to me it just looked like you screwed up big time and that was your sad attempt at fixing it."

"What?" Danny snapped, getting defensive. Plus with his powers still out, his family trapped, and now this woman not letting him leave, he was not in a good mood.

"You don't see what you did?" Sam asked, her voice rising. "In an effort to make sure that you were not associated with ghosts in any way, you lied, the doctors caught you lying, and now ghosts are all they think about when they look at you. Didn't anyone ever teach you honesty is the best policy?"

"What, you want me to tell them the whole truth?" Danny almost shouted.

"You know that's not what I mean, I'm just saying that- Danny?!" Sam's voice rose in panic when she realized he was no longer listening to her, but doubled-over in pain. "Danny!" Sam looked around frantically for a nurse or doctor. She caught the cold stare of the doctor with the limp. He was far away and yet Sam felt he had been able to hear their entire conversation. She shivered and turned away from him just as a nurse arrived to look at Danny.

* * *

There was a light. A really bright light. Danny moved his hand to shield his eyes.

"Danny, can you hear me?" came a voice with a strong British accent.

"What happened?" Danny asked, opening his eyes to see the blond doctor who had checked on him a few times when House had insisted he was a patient. It hit him then. He was back in a hospital room. In a bed. With an IV. Perfect.

"You seemed to be in a lot of pain and then you just blacked out," British doc was saying. What was his name? Danny couldn't seem to remember.

"I remember the pain," Danny said bitterly.

"Good then you can help us out," British doc replied, getting out a pen and picking up a chart. "Was it in a specific area this time? Or all over like before?"

"It started in my stomach, but then it spread . . . like last time," Danny answered truthfully. Sam had been right. He had just wound up hurting himself by lying. However that did not mean lying by omission was out of the question. It's not like they were going to ask him, "Oh by the way, are you fully human?"

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Sam. She looked worried, but forced a smile.

"Was the pain sharp or throbbing?"

"Chase," the female doctor, Cameron, popped her head into the room. "Finish up with the questions, then meet in the office. House wants to run a differential."

Chase nodded at her then turned back to Danny for his answer.

"It was sharp and then felt like last time."

"Last time, you compared it to an electrical shock," Chase reminded him and then paused as if it was a question.

Danny hesitated, but then nodded.

"Kay, well once again you seem to be fine now, but that doesn't mean you're not sick. You take it easy and we're gonna go back to trying to find out why that pain comes and goes, alright?"

Another nod and Dr. Chase left.

"Danny, this is not good," Sam said as soon as they were alone.

"Yah, you're telling me," Danny grumbled.

"No, I'm serious, look." Suddenly a metal clipboard was in Danny's lap. There were a bunch of times written down with numbers written beside them.

"Uh . . ."

"It's your stats," Sam explained. "They're all within the normal range."

"That's good right?"

"For a normal human being, the normal range is good."

"Oh. Right." Danny sighed. "Normal is not good."

"Look at these specifically." Sam pointed.

"What's that?"

Sam sighed. "Do you not pay attention when Tucker and I are running your stats after practice?! It's your blood pressure."

" . . . kay." He still didn't quite get it.

"Argh!" Sam got really close and lowered her voice. "If a doctor were to take your BP when you're healthy, he would say you have high blood pressure."

"So the fact that mine is normal right now, really means . . . that I have low blood pressure?"

"Exactly! Same goes for your heart rate. And look at your temperature!"

"That's really high for me," Danny murmured, finally understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Don't you see? You're sick and the doctors don't even know half your symptoms!" Sam sat back, looking frustrated.

"This is bad."

"I know." Sam's voice had suddenly turned solemn. Danny tore his gaze away from the chart. Their eyes met.

"Danny," she started, "I think . . . I think you need to tell them, or at least one of them. The girl seems nice-"

"No."

"Danny."

"Sam! Do you understand what you're saying?!"

"They're doctors, not scientists."

"So?!"

"Isn't there some sort of confidentiality agreement between patients and their doctors?"

"Somehow I doubt that will apply to half-human freaks," Danny snapped.

"I'm not saying you have to go into detail, maybe we just say that you have some other condition that changes your stats . . . Danny?" He was staring up at the ceiling now.

"Danny?" Sam called again, but he made no sign that he had heard her.

_A flash of red. In the darkness. Woods. He was in the woods and it was dark and he was looking for . . . that red? Something red._

_And then he was face-down in the dirt._

"_Enough of this," a familiar voice was saying, "give it to him now so we can hurry up and get back."_

_Get back where?_

"_Now, now," the voice chided, "that's none of your business. You're going to be much too busy to worry about that little ghost of a town." There was a chuckle. "Now, Lydia!" _

"_Now what?" Danny asked, "What are you doing?" The answer came in the form of a sharp pain in his left shoulder that made him cry out._

Danny howled and Sam stepped back, allowing the doctors to surround her best friend.

"He's going into respiratory distress!" Chase yelled above the chaos of beeping machines and Danny's attempts at breathing.

Sam buried her head in her hands and tried to block everything out. All of a sudden she felt herself shiver. She looked up. The crippled doctor was there. Watching. She felt a surge of anger towards him. The way he looked at Danny. As if he already knew what he was. And was therefore treating him as such. No, Danny was right. He couldn't be trusted.

**Hmm . . . where am I going with this? Hah, I'm not so sure I know anymore. But I'm pretty sure there's actually like one or two more chapters before the preview . . . I think. And sorry updates are slow but I'm busy and that's not gonna change any time soon. **


	5. Chapter 5: Injection

**So, hi. It's been a while, I know. I apologize a trillion times and I swear to see this story through till the end. Also sorry I took down the one-shot at the beginning that this grew from. I don't want you reading it anymore cuz it has to be edited to fit some new ideas as we are nearing that part in the story. In the meantime, enjoy this new stuff:**

"Lydia?!"

"SHHH!"

"Meaning Freak Show?!"

"SHH! Sa-am," Danny warned in a harsh whisper, "someone's gonna hear you!"

Sam's hand flew to her mouth, but her eyes stayed wide in shock. Danny whipped his head around from her on his left to the huge sliding glass door and window that made up the entire right side of his room.

"I especially don't want that doctor with the cane to hear," he muttered, "if he knows I remember the accident I'll never get him to leave me alone about it."

"Sorry," Sam apologized, "but are you sure? I mean, don't the Guys in White have him?"

"As if that's any guarantee," Danny snapped, folding his arms and leaning back in bed. "It doesn't matter how he escaped. All that matters is that I now know that he's the one terrorizing the town while I'm stuck here, useless."

"True." Sam looked towards the floor. Her thoughts turned to how they could get Danny out of the hospital. Wait a minute, he really was sick. She let her eyes flick over her best friend without him noticing. He seemed to be lost in thought too. She was used to seeing him like that, but not in this type of setting. Lying there in a hospital bed. Even though he claimed he didn't feel sick, she thought he looked weak… so human, so fragile. Suddenly she wasn't too keen on getting him out of the hospital. Maybe the doctors could fix what was wrong with him, without finding out his secret, and _then_ they could worry about Freak Show.

"Argh," Danny let out a noise of frustration as he scratched at the bandage covering his left shoulder and most of his arm.

Sam looked up, the noise jolting her from her private scheming.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her brow furrowing with worry.

"In the flashback," Danny explained as he continued to try unsuccessfully to rip through his bandage, "Freak Show had Lydia stick something in my shoulder."

"Stick?"

"Yah, like a needle."

"You mean they _injected_ you with something?!"

Danny shot her a look.

"Right, too loud, sorry."

"S'ok." Danny sighed, giving up on undoing the tight white wrapping. "It definitely felt like an injection of some kind."

"But the report from the ER describes the wound on your left shoulder and arm as a 'gash' and not a puncture," Sam quoted, holding up the chart from the front of Danny's bed.

"Maybe they cut me there too," Danny suggested, "you know, to hide the hole."

Sam stared at her friend with a miserable look on her face.

"What?" Danny asked. Sam's gaze frightened him a bit.

"You do realize how twisted that sounds, don't you?"

"This is Freak Show we're talking about Sam, of course it's twisted."

Sam nodded and sucked in a breath. "Okay so they injected you with something. Something to make you sick?"

"Something to turn off my powers."

"Oh right."

"But it's probably what's making me sick too."

Sam came and sat heavily on the bed next to Danny's bandaged arm. "You know, we could get the doctors to take off the bandage, see what's there."

"That would require admitting I remember the accident," Danny pointed out.  
"Not necessarily," Sam stated, looking him directly in the eyes.

Danny smiled, recognizing the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "What do you have in mind?"

* * *

Wilson entered House's office just as Foreman, Chase, and Cameron exited it.

"They going to work on Danny?" he asked.

"If you're referring to the really bad liar from Ghostville, then yes," House said from behind his desk, barely looking up from his computer screen.

"What do you think is wrong with him?"

"He's full of angst, he's arrogant, he's hiding something, and he doesn't like being sick," House replied casually.

Wilson stared blankly in return until House looked up from his computer.

"Oh you meant medically," he said smartly.

Wilson rolled his eyes. "Well, yes," he scoffed impatiently.

"The team and I can't seem to agree on whether the respiratory distress is a symptom or was a panic attack," here House's tone turned mocking, "because talking to a mean doctor and being away from his mommy is scary."

"I take it your stance on the issue is that it _wasn't _a panic attack?" Wilson asked in his usual way of unnecessary clarification.

"Teenagers don't miss their parents, especially not this one. He refused to give us his last name just to avoid any association with them."

"And as for the cruel doctor bullying him?"

"Cuddy's portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West may have won her an Oscar but she doesn't give teens panic attacks."

Another blank look from Wilson turned into a disapproving frown.

"Oh you were talking about me," House said, feigning innocence, "I'm just so off today." He turned back to his computer screen. "Except when I'm on."

"What?" Wilson craned his neck to see what his friend was now smirking about.

"Nothing." House quickly exited whatever window he had had open on the screen.

Wilson was in the middle of a very scrutinizing glare when House's pager started going off.

"Gotta fly," House said with the slightest hint of a smile. He got up and threw on his jacket. Wilson followed him outside his office.

"What did you mean when you said Danny doesn't like being sick? No one likes being sick," Wilson pointed out as they stopped in front of the elevators.

"They don't like it, but they still care about finding out what's wrong with them," House replied, "and sooner or later they fall into the weak, suffering patient routine. But not this kid. This kid is angry about it. Several agonizing shocks of pain and one breathing problem and he still just wants to get out of here."

"We've had this conversation before," Wilson remembered as they entered the elevator. "When patients don't care about finding out what's wrong with them it's usually because they already know what's wrong."

"True," House admitted gruffly.

"So is that the case here? I mean, what other explanation could there be?"

The elevator doors opened to the floor House's patient was on (now a normal room, not that of a coma patient). Wilson stayed in the elevator, but held the door open to hear House's answer to his question.

"Either he already knows about it . . . or he knows we can't help," came House's reasoning. Wilson opened his mouth to pose another question when Sam came running up to the doctors.

"Come quick! He's going crazy!" she exclaimed.

House followed the panicked girl down the hall, leaving Wilson to ponder his answer alone.

The glass door slid open easily, allowing Danny's frustrated whimpering to echo down the hall.

"What's wrong?" House demanded.

"It's under this bandage!" Danny explained through clenched teeth, "It itches like crazy!" He tore at the tight white gauze with his fingers like he had earlier when him and Sam were alone, only this time he made his movements more frantic.

House plunked down in the chair Sam had vacated and pulled over a supply cart, searching the contents of the drawers until he found a pair of scissors.

Just as he leaned toward Danny's bandaged shoulder, his team came running into the room.

"What are you doing?!" Cameron voiced the question on the entire team's minds.

"Cutting his bandage off," House explained impatiently. "Or is there a better way to see what's under it that's causing him to itch so bad he's screaming like a little girl?"

"I do not scream like a little girl," Danny snapped, pausing from scratching at his bandage.

"Do you want this off or not?" House retorted.

Danny's only response was a quizzical look at the strange doctor.

"And are you guys going to help or not?" At House's remark the team went scrambling in all directions. Foreman assisted House with the bandage cutting while Chase and Cameron checked Danny's IV.

"I don't see anything," came Foreman's verdict, "No redness, no swelling."

If anyone had been watching House they would have seen him studying Danny's reaction. Danny was knowingly staring at a distinct spot on his arm. House followed his gaze.

"There," House said, pointing where Danny was looking.

"What?" asked Foreman. Cameron and Chase gathered around.

"The gash has an irregularity here," House explained, sounding slightly fascinated.

"Irregularity?" Chase echoed.

"He means the rest of the cut is straight, but here it seems to jut out a bit," Foreman clarified.

"Well so?" Chase challenged.

"So if it were made with a straight edge, the cut would be a clean slice," Cameron realized.

The team turned to House who was now rifling through the supplies again. "Why don't we have a magnifying glass?" he complained, brandishing a pair of reading glasses. "These will do."

House held the glasses over Danny's arm so that the "irregularity" was magnified. The entire team gasped.

"It's a puncture," Chase was first to say.

"From a needle," Cameron followed.

"He's had a shot recently," Foreman reasoned. He turned to Danny. "You had been to see a doctor before the attack?"

"No," House answered for him, "this was _part_ of the attack."

Danny kept his mouth shut, his silence revealing the truth of House's words.

"You remembered this was here," House accused, "you remember this happened." He paused and Danny allowed him to continue. The team simply stood agape. "Meaning you're remembering the attack." House couldn't contain the smug smile as it crept across his face.

**Lemme know you guys are still reading, k? Thanks :)**


	6. Chapter 6: Coloring

"You think he knows something we don't?" Chase wondered aloud. He turned from the window in their office to face his co-workers.

"Well he has spoken to Danny on several occasions without us around," Cameron replied from her position at the table.

"If House knew something, he'd be here dangling it in our faces, trying to make us guess what it is," Foreman reasoned as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "He's probably off talking to Wilson. He's just as stumped as we are."

"But he made Danny admit he was remembering the accident," Chase pointed out.

"Barely," Foreman argued, "House may have called the kid out on that but Danny didn't say a word."

There was a brief pause as they each ran through their memories of the incident.

"He doesn't really say much of anything, huh?" Chase finally said, turning back to stare out the window.

"Not to House," Cameron spoke up again, "not to us when we're with House, but maybe…"

Chase moved to stand at the table now, his full attention on his female co-worker. "You thinkin' he might actually respond without House in the room? We have ourselves a little heart-to-heart? Or team-to-patient, rather?"

Foreman brought his coffee to the table, looking intrigued. The three doctors glanced around the table at each other in agreement.

Chase was the one to break the silence again. "Let's go!" He smiled and the rest of the team returned the gesture as they got up together to go to the patient's room.

* * *

"This is so not good," Danny moaned, his hands over his face.

"Well they're not asking questions," Sam offered from her ever-present place beside his bed.

"I think that's worse… means they're assuming."

"Maybe not, maybe they're just finally accepting that you're not going to give them answers. That would be a good thing, right? Maybe you could even tell them about your stats. They try to ask why they're different and you just…"

"I just what, Sam?"

Sam shot him a glare before throwing up her hands in frustration. "I don't know, you just don't answer them I guess. I mean, Dr. House seems to not care and when it comes to those other doctors, well… I think they're kind of scared of you."

"Great!" Danny shouted sarcastically. "The doctors are scared of me and they don't even know I'm a ghost! Perfect."

"Not like that," Sam said, slightly annoyed with his outburst. "You just seem to give off this kind of tough-guy persona when you're around them, you know?"

"I do?" Danny looked at his best friend quizzically.

"Yeah…" Sam replied. The two stared at each other and the moment seemed to last longer than it really did. It was then that the door to Danny's room slid open and the three doctors that worked for Dr. House came in looking pleasant

"Hey guys. Danny, how are you feeling?" Dr. Cameron asked.

Danny smiled up at the red head. "Well it's been almost three hours and no shocks. That's good, right? Maybe the stuff you guys have me on is working and I can go home?"

"Danny," Foreman spoke plainly, "the medicine in your IV is only stopping you from feeling any of the pain that a shock would make you feel. It's not fixing the underlying problem. We still don't know what's causing the shocks in the first place. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're still stuck here."

"Oh," Danny said, looking down at his covers solemnly.

"_So much for the tough-guy attitude_," Sam thought with an eye roll. "_Seems to only come out when that House guy is around._"

There was silence as the doctors shared looks. Danny looked back up at them with a sigh. "So why are you guys here? More tests?"

"Actually, we'd like to talk," Chase said, sitting down on the bed. Cameron stood by him and Foreman leaned on the table at the foot of the bed.

"We know our boss can be a bit of a jerk," Cameron explained.

"But we're not like him and we don't want you to feel like you can't trust us," Chase added.

"Whatever happened during the accident that brought you here is your business and we don't mean to pry," Foreman went on, sharing a look with each of the other team members. "But…"

"But you have to understand that some of the stuff that happened to you could be medically relevant," Chase picked it up.

"It could help us figure out what's wrong with you," Cameron continued.

"And the sooner we do that, the sooner you can go home," Foreman finished.

The team waited, their speech complete.

Danny looked over at Sam. Their eyes met, but they didn't speak. After what seemed like an eternity, Sam began nodding. Danny sighed and Sam's gaze dropped to her lap.

"Okay," Danny started, turning to the eager doctors, "well… about my stats…"

* * *

House sighed as he plopped down into one of the tiny plastic chairs gathered around a small table in the children's cancer ward of the hospital. A few of the kids glanced up from their coloring to take in the strange man now sitting with them.

House shot them a tight-lipped smile and then turned his attention to the box of crayons the blonde boy across from him was using.

"Would you mind sharing your crayons?" he asked politely, using the special type of condescending voice he reserved only for small children. "Think I left mine in my cubby back home."

The boy casually looked up and gave House a once-over as if measuring his fitness for sharing crayons with. "Whatcha colorin?"

"Oh just a little something I found in the back of a comic book," House replied, holding up a piece of paper for the boy to see.

The child's face lit up. "Danny Phantom! Cool!"

"Can I take that as a yes?"

The kid nodded and went back to his coloring, seeming satisfied that House had proven his worth.

"Thank you." House then picked up the box and began examining different shades of blue.

Wilson happened to be walking by the playroom at this particular moment and he stopped instantly upon seeing his crippled friend.

"House?"

"Hey," House greeted, having decided on a color and now bent over his work-in-progress.

"What are you doing in here?" Wilson asked, entering the room.

"Coloring. Have a seat."

Wilson smiled uneasily at the child across from House and sat down next to him. "May I ask why?"

"You'll have to excuse my friend," House said to his coloring buddy. "Grown-ups." He gave an eye roll, making the boy giggle. "You don't color for a reason, silly, you color cause it's fun."

"Yes, well I think it's safe to say that your definition of "fun" hardly ever coincides with a five-year-old's meaning of the word."

House didn't respond, as he now seemed to be completely consumed by his project. Wilson leaned forward to get a look at what he was coloring and House jerked it back.

"Hey, no peeking!" House yelled. "Not until it's done, duh!"

Wilson looked up to see if he was serious.

House met Wilson's incredulous stare with cool obstinacy. "Guy doesn't respect the art of coloring," he then muttered to the boy, earning another giggle. Wilson leaned back in his chair with a sheepish expression on his face.

After a few more crayon stokes, House looked up to see Wilson waiting patiently. He smirked and finished filling in the bold lines of the coloring page with the colors of his choice.

"Okay," he finally said, replacing the borrowed crayons. Wilson stared with bored anticipation. House flipped his picture around dramatically.

Wilson took in the picture before him, his eyebrows knitting in confusion.

The generous crayon-sharer looked up to see House's work as well. His expression quickly turned hostile. "Hey, that's not what Danny Phantom looks like!" he exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter what he really looks like," House countered, "It's called an artistic license. I can color him however I want."

The boy did not want to hear any of this and with a final glare he took his crayons and marched to a different table.

"Geez what's his problem?" House muttered. "It's called creativity, kid, get some!" he called over to the child's new table. "Kids these days," he went back to muttering, "bet he always colors the grass green and the sky blue. Amateur."

"I hate to interrupt your little lecture on the proper proceedings of a children's past-time, but are you suggesting to me what I think you're suggesting?"

"What, too far-fetched?" House retorted, finally giving Wilson his full attention. He got up to leave and Wilson followed his lead, still clutching House's coloring job.

"Or is it the eyes?" House asked as they walked down the hall to the elevator. "Cause it took me forever to find the right color and they still don't seem exactly right to me."

"You're crazy," Wilson concluded as the elevator doors opened.

"That has yet to be proven," House stated. "Remember this is taking place post season four."

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

The elevator arrived on the floor of House's office and House peeked down the hall, trying to see into it.

Wilson continued examining the picture. "I mean there is a slight resemblance but not really enough to-"

"Where's my team?" House interrupted.

* * *

Despite his hurt leg, House picked up speed once they got to Danny's room and saw the blinds were drawn.

"House!" Wilson called after him, but he didn't listen. His team was meeting with the patient behind his back. Something was going down, he just knew it.

He reached for the handle to the sliding door, but it moved aside just as he was about to grasp it. Foreman was leaving the room, followed closely by Chase and Cameron. House stopped their progress with a stony glare.

"What were you doing?" he asked sternly.

"We came to ask Danny a few questions and-" House didn't let Cameron finish and he pushed past all of them to enter the room.

Danny seemed to be sleeping and the girl was nowhere to be found.

"What happened?" he demanded.

The team shared guilty looks.

"What happened?!" House was shouting now.

"Look," Foreman started, taking the initiative, "we just thought that we could get more out of him without you around so we came down here and started talking to him."

"Uh huh, went behind my back, got that part, continue."

Foreman sighed and rolled his eyes.

"It was going well," Chase defended, "he was telling us about his condition, we were getting answers!"

"Uh huh, but then?" House pressed, as if he knew what was coming.

Another round of silent, guilt-ridden glances past among the team members.

"He told us he was a ghost," Foreman explained.

"Half a ghost," Cameron corrected.

"He got angry when we said we didn't believe him," Foreman continued, "and then anger turned into rage."

"And then we had to subdue him," Chase finished sadly.

"We know you would have liked to have been there, but maybe it's best that we went without you. Now we know that he's unstable."

"The fact that he's having delusions could actually explain a lot," Cameron pointed out.

"At least we got the girl to leave before things got messy," Chase added.

The team watched their boss's reaction carefully as he turned from them to watch Danny sleeping.

No one noticed Wilson standing in the doorway behind them. Carefully he folded House's picture and concealed it in the palm of his hand.

Once again Chase was the one to break the silence. "He'll be out for at least another hour, can't we just-"

"Back to the office. Go," House ordered.

The team filed out past Wilson as House shot him an intense stare. Wilson then came forward and handed House the folded piece of paper. He opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it. Instead he just threw up his hands and backed away as if to say, "I'm not touching this."

House gave a nod of understanding and Wilson left.

"Looks like it's just you and me, kid."


	7. Chapter 7: Delusion

**Hey all, sorry about there not being a note from me last time. Or maybe you were okay with that… well you get one now either way. **

**This is the one-shot converted into an actual chapter. (Finally!) A reviewer suggested I re-post the one-shot but I feel I didn't change enough to really consider them to be two different things (plus I saved over it, oops!) You'll see though, it's better as a chapter in a story and nothing is lost. I just had to tweak it a bit for continuity's sake and add some more development. Hope you like it…**

**I'd like to take a sec to tell my reviewers how much I appreciate them! I really do guys! No matter how short and quick and whether you log in or not, your reviews make a difference! I read and treasure them all. They keep me going. So thank you thank you thank you!**

**Two particular reviews I'd like to acknowledge: one had some criticisms about my writing. It was great. I used the suggestions, all of them, I think (correct me if I'm wrong). Guys, please don't hesitate to criticize me. I totally don't mind. **

**Other review had a plot suggestion. It was good, but if you guys have read my other stuff then you know I don't use other people's ideas. Feel free to branch off of my stuff and do your own thing though! And tell me so I can enjoy it :) I enjoy hearing your ideas, but I prefer to stick to my own and I usually already have my stories complete in my head, leaving little room to change things. **

**So yeah, feel free to share, but don't be crushed when I don't use your stuff.**

**Ok I think that's it. And sorry, that was a lot. Enjoy!**

Danny tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't. His eyelids felt like they were glued shut. He tried to reach his hand up to wipe away the glue, but found he couldn't do that either. There was something… something around his wrists, preventing him from moving his arm any further than a few inches. He forced his eyes open and looked down at his right hand. A rubber cuff was loosely strapped around his wrist and connected to the side of the hospital bed.

"Restraints?" he guessed in a hoarse whisper.

"Delusions can usually bring about rather hostile emotions," came a deadpan voice from across the room.

Danny turned his head to the front of the room to find Dr. House's scrutinizing gaze on him. "We didn't want you to hurt yourself."

Danny let out a snort. "More like you didn't want me to hurt your team of doctors who have become oh-so-fond of me." They had seemed so nice when they had come in to talk. _What an act!_

"The team likes you," House argued, "They just don't like being lied to."

Danny groaned. "I'm not lying! I know it seems crazy but I can't help it! It is what it is." He didn't know why he was tiptoeing around using the actual words now. He had said it once, spilled his guts to the team, why should he have any trouble repeating it to Dr. Jerk?

"Not about that," House was saying, still annoyingly calm. "You lied about doing drugs."

"I told you!" Danny burst out. "I don't. Use. Drugs."

"I know," House replied, "and I believed you… but the delusions confirm it."

"Delusions?" Danny echoed, disbelievingly. "I entrust you with my deepest darkest secret and you dare to dismiss it as a delusion?!" He was yelling now. He knew he sounded irrational and he couldn't help it. He slumped back against the pillows, feeling helpless. Again he shied away from actually mentioning what his secret was. He just couldn't bring himself to say it again. Once had been difficult enough.

"Besides, we're not saying you used the drugs purposefully," House went on, "That puncture wound obviously indicates some foreign substance was put into your body, whether you put it there yourself or someone else did makes no difference to us. You can talk to the police if you'd like once we've flushed your system. Maybe you feel you can actually trust them with the whole story."

_Really?_ Danny thought. _He's gonna get on my case about not telling the truth about remembering the accident AGAIN? NOW? _Ironic, considering how awful telling the truth had just worked out for him._ This doctor's got some ner-_

All of a sudden one of the painful bursts of electricity that had been plaguing him every few hours for the past couple days, shot through his body, causing him to cry out in agony.

"The side effects of the radiation-poisoning from the drugs you were allegedly given," House stated emotionlessly once the shock was over. "It fits. We're starting treatment. The shocks should slowly lessen in intensity."

Danny didn't bother to open his eyes to watch the crippled doctor leave.

"Danny?" It was Sam's voice. She had left because the Doctors Chase, Foreman, and Cameron had suggested she go get something from the vending machine. Now he could see they had just been trying to get rid of her so she wouldn't protest to them subduing him. _Yeah, sedate the poor crazy kid from Amity who thinks he's a ghost. And while you're at it, give him some restraints. Then, when he wakes up, have the arrogant doctor talk to him. That will solve things._ He allowed himself a mental eye roll before opening his eyes to see Sam.

"That didn't go as well as I hoped," she whispered, coming to sit beside his bed.

"Uh ya think?" Danny grunted in return. "I told you they wouldn't believe me without proof and since I can't go ghost . . ."

"I'm sorry," Sam said in an even softer whisper.

Danny suddenly jerked his head up and looked at his best friend. There were tears in her eyes.

"No, Sam," Danny struggled to sit up without the use of his still-restrained hands, "Sam, that's not what I meant. This isn't your fault!"

"But it was my idea," Sam snapped back, trying to hold back the tears.

"Shh," Danny tried to comfort her, extending his hand towards her as much as he could.

Sam understood and took his hand in hers. On the verge of letting the tears fall, she sank down, resting her forehead on their hands. "I just wish there was something I could do to fix this," she sobbed. With her head bent forward, the strap of her always-handy spider backpack slipped off her shoulder. The bag wilted towards the floor. An ecto-gun fell out and clattered to the floor.

"Oops." Sam reached down to pick it up. She then put her backpack in her lap, intending to load the ecto-gun back in.

"Wait." Danny stopped her.

"What?" Sam questioned, looking down at her backpack full of ghost technology.

"Do any of those run on the batteries my parents invented? You know, the ones that use ghost energy?"

"I think so," Sam answered. "Why?"

Danny smiled.

Dr. Cuddy watched the pair of teenagers from afar. She had come to pick up some files from the nurse's station, but the kids from Amity Park had been on her mind all day and so the trip was doubling as a check-up, not only for them but for her own sanity. _What is really going on in their hometown? Why don't we ever hear more about the place and all their "ghostly" activity?_

"Radioactivity from tainted drugs," Dr. House's voice cut through Cuddy's thoughts.

"What?" she cried turning to face the egotistical jerk of a doctor, "The tox-screen was clean! You have no evidence to support-"

"It fits," House stated firmly. "Kid started having delusions."

"What kind of delusions?" Cuddy wanted to know.

"Told my team he was Danny Phantom, the ghost super-hero from a comic book," House explained, furtively monitoring his boss's reaction. "Supposedly there is such a ghost in that small little ghost town, Amity Park."

"Maybe there is," Cuddy replied, trying to sound nonchalant. "How would we know? The place is being held hostage and only one news station is running a report on it. Everyone I've talked to today," she trailed off, shaking her head. "Not one person knows about it. So sure, a ghost kid, why not?"

"Well real or unreal, do you really think he's in your hospital?" House countered. His smirk was teasing, but Cuddy didn't notice. She was instead staring straight ahead again.

"What . . . what are they doing?" she asked, squinting to see inside House's patient's hospital room.

House looked too.

"Is that a syringe?"

"Oh God." House looked around for his team and began hobbling toward his patient's room as fast as he could.

"Are you sure this isn't gonna just make things worse?" Sam asked, looking at the syringe she had just used to drain one of the Fenton Batteries. A bright green liquid swirled around inside the vial.

"Sam, it's ghost energy," Danny explained, "I'm a ghost! Half my body is full of that stuff! Or at least it's supposed to be, but my illness is somehow sucking away most of my energy! That's why I can't go ghost!"

"So if I stick you with this needle and inject your human half with ghost energy, you really think you'll have enough to make the change?" Sam looked skeptical.

"Sam, trust me," Danny pleaded, "this will work… er, well, it can't hurt me."

"How sure are you of that statement… if you can even call it that!"

The argument was interrupted by someone banging on the glass doors to Danny's room.

"Oh crud," Danny looked up to see all of his doctors, including the administrator who had seemed like the only reasonable one of the group, crowded at his door, trying to get in.

"Better hurry, they're gonna figure out how to get the door open sooner or later." Danny looked at Sam who still looked hesitant.

The banging on the door increased and there was some shouting as well.

"Now Sam!" Danny practically begged, motioning towards his arm with his head.

Sam quickly rolled up his hospital sleeve to reveal his upper arm. She couldn't help but marvel a bit at his muscles, even in her panicked state, but she quickly recovered and focused back on the task at hand.

"Don't close your eyes!" Danny suddenly yelped.

"Oh sorry!" Sam brought the needle closer to Danny's arm and with her eyes wide open broke the skin.

Just then the doctors got the door open and flooded in. Sam had just enough time to push the green fluid into Danny's arm before she was wrestled away from him.

The doctors were all shouting at once. The one who had Sam crushed in his arms suddenly spun her around to face him. It was Dr. Foreman.

"What did you do?! What was in here?!" He shoved the empty syringe in her face.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Danny commanded, his face taught with anger. But then a look of agony flashed across his face. He started twitching, his body convulsing.

"He's seizing!" Dr. Chase shouted and then began rattling off various commands.

Cuddy closed the curtains so no one could see into the room anymore while Cameron assisted Chase. House stood at the front of the bed, watching his patient struggle.

"Danny!" Sam screamed, her tears flowing freely now.

All of a sudden Danny went rigid and a bright light appeared. It was coming from the middle of his stomach.

Chase and Cameron were so shocked they actually stopped what they were doing and backed away. Patients weren't supposed to give off light like that.

Foreman lost his grip on Sam. He backed away too while Sam took steps closer.

"Danny?" she asked hesitantly.

The light engulfed him and the doctors shielded their eyes. Sam watched in delight as the familiar transformation took place. Then the light was gone, though a faint glow remained around Danny as usual.

The doctors just gawked at the white-haired, jump-suit-clad boy lying in the bed.

Danny's eyes fluttered open and he coughed a bit.

"Danny!" Sam cried triumphantly "It worked!" She nearly tackled him into a hug that he was able to return since the doctors had removed the restraints in preparation for treating his "seizure."

"Course it worked, Sam," Danny replied warmly, "Nice job by the way."

Sam suddenly pulled away and smacked him (gently) on the cheek. "Don't you ever make me do something like that again!" she screeched. "I thought I had killed you!"

Danny just laughed. Sam embraced him again. Then they both realized the eerie silence coming from the other five people in the room.

Sam broke the hug, but kept one arm firmly around Danny's shoulders. Danny did the same and smirked at the astonished doctors.

"Well," he remarked, "welcome to my delusion."

**Like I said, not much different from the one shot, so sorry if this didn't feel like a real update. Hopefully the wait won't be too long again, but I can't make any promises. Thanks for bearing with me :)**


	8. Chapter 8: Energy

**Hey guys, I totally forgot to put this author's note on the chapter before I posted it so then I took it down and reposted it with the note so sorry if that causes confusion for people cuz you get like two emails or whatever. Sorry! But I just had to say thank you thank you thank you to my reviewers! You're seriously the best! There's so many of you and you say the sweetest things! So thanks cuz I almost gave up on this story and updates are slow but you're bearing with me so that's cool. **

**There are two people in particular to thank for this chapter getting done. First of all, deadlydaisy8o8 who pm'd me and got me thinking about this chapter way back in like November. I probably wouldn't have even gotten started on this if it weren't for her praise so thanks :) Secondly, my sister. She's not a fanfiction writer or reader (in fact I think she's quite ashamed of me lol) but she got me a Danny Phantom shirt from Hot Topic for Christmas!! I was so surprised! I didn't even know they still made stuff from the show like that! And so that got me all in the mood to finish this last night and now here it is so ENJOY and Merry Christmas!**

**Silence…**

and then some more silence.

No one knew what to say.

Chase looked at Cameron. Cameron turned to Foreman. Foreman was sharing a look with Cuddy. Almost at the same time they all three turned around to check out House's reaction.

The room behind them was empty.

The four doctors shared quizzical expressions.

"He left while you were standing there in stunned silence," Danny explained without being asked.

"Why would he leave?" Chase wondered aloud.

"Are you kidding?" a voice came from behind them. House was entering the room carrying the white board the team uses to brainstorm about cases. "Ghosts are scary," House continued, "had to run to the office and grab my security white board. If I clutch it tightly enough it makes all the monsters go away."

No one laughed at the joke. But then again, they never do.

House set the white board down and the team and Cuddy continued to just stare at him as he pulled up a stool and sat, uncapping a marker he pulled from his pocket.

"We gonna do this, or what?" House spat at his gaping colleagues.

"Do what?" Chase asked.

"Run a differential based on the new information we have," House answered casually.

"New information?!" Cuddy lashed out. "You call _that_ new information? You're not _shocked _by this?"

"Shocked?" House echoed. "Oh my God, another patient lied to us, sound the alarms!"

Cuddy crossed her arms and glared. "Usually when our patients lie to us, it's not about whether they're fully alive or not."

"Ah ah ah," House chided. "He's not half dead; he's part human, part ghost. Current research defines ghosts as 'ectoplasmic entities,' not spirits of the deceased."

"I don't care how you define it-" Cuddy began, but she was interrupted by the door to the room sliding open and Dr. Wilson peering in.

"Hey, can I ask you about something real qui-" His eyes fell on Danny. "Oh my God. You were right." He turned to House with his mouth partly open in that astonished expression only House's antics can bring about.

"Right about what?" Danny suddenly chimed in. It had been interesting watching the doctors digest his secret, but this was something strange.

All eyes had turned on Danny who was now piercing House and Wilson with a look that had the other doctors slightly on edge.

"You mean you didn't tell them your outrageous theory? You didn't show them the picture?" Wilson practically yelled. "And that," he said, turning to Danny and waving at him with folders he happened to be holding when he walked in, "that just happened?"

"What picture?" Danny asked. His heart had started pounding as soon as Wilson had begun implying that House may have already known something about him being half ghost. And now mention of a picture? Did they have something that could be used to reveal his secret to the rest of the world? Five doctors, and now six, were already too many people knowing for Danny to be comfortable with. He was getting very anxious.

"Well I certainly didn't ask him to do that if that's what you're asking," House answered Wilson, ignoring Danny.

"What. Picture." Danny repeated, but this time he made sure he was heard. The anxiety he was feeling made his energy surge and he felt his eyes glow out of habit.

This received a collective gasp from the other people in the room. Except Sam of course, who still clung to his hand at his bedside.

Danny immediately willed himself to calm down and take a huge breath. "Sorry," he said evenly. He shared a look with Sam to steady himself. "Look, I'm not too thrilled about sharing this with you," he explained to the doctors, "and I'm even less excited about the idea of even more people finding out, so if you have evidence about my…" he paused, trying to come up with the correct word, "condition, I'd really appreciate it if you would please tell me about it."

There was silence for a few moments.

House broke it. "Who knew ghosts say 'please'?" He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and got up from his stool.

He approached Danny and held out the "evidence." Danny gently took the paper from House, holding his gaze until he opened it.

It was a page ripped from the back of a Danny Phantom comic book. "Color me!" the top of the page screamed. A cartoon version of his ghost half smirked up at him, arms crossed in a kind of confident, but carefree teenage superhero manner. But instead of white hair and green eyes, someone had colored his hair black and his eyes a piercing china blue.

"You did this?"

"I even managed to stay in the lines."

Danny ignored the retort. "When?"

"Earlier today," House answered honestly, "while you were busy blabbing your secret to my lackeys." He suddenly snatched the picture back. "As if I'm not trustworthy." He rolled his eyes extravagantly.

Danny remained stoic now. His eyes remained glued to the paper in House's hand.

House followed Danny's gaze and sighed. "You really worried this will give people ideas if they see it?" His tone was serious.

Danny shrugged, trying not to show how much the insignificant coloring page bothered him.

House considered him for a moment and then handed the picture back. Danny took it hesitantly, looking up into House's face, his eerie green eyes meeting an ice blue similar to his own when not in ghost-form. "Your secret's safe with us," House stated quietly.

Danny studied the man before him intently before speaking. "You've been helping me," he stated in realization. "You didn't ask questions about my arm, you just let me lead you to it. You stopped pressuring me for details about the accident…"

House gave only a small nod as a sign that Danny was correct in his new assumptions.

"But then you made me desperate, gave me a bad diagnosis…"

"Had to put the pressure back on," House explained. "By then you had already told the team so I figured if there were a way to prove to them you weren't lying, you would find it." House paused. "And you did," he finished, his voice coming out of its previously dead serious tone. "Now, time for a proper exam."

He turned and walked back to the whiteboard. "Who wants to find out how you test a ghost's reflexes?" he asked with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

* * *

Almost an hour later, the board was filled with a new list of symptoms. A list that Danny and Sam had already had running in their minds from when they examined Danny's stats earlier. Plus a few editions that House had come up with on his own, such as a high potassium level. Sam and Tucker had never had the means to test things like Danny's potassium level and so they were not sure as to whether or not Danny's was abnormal. Through his own research, House had concluded that Danny's body would not need as much potassium since ghosts had no use for it. And so through their combined efforts, Sam, Danny, and his doctors (all six were still present oddly enough), they seemed to have come up with a better idea of what was going on with the patient.

Sam felt a lot better about things and Danny was beginning to feel comfortable around House and his team. The administrator still seemed a bit on edge, but Danny was finding out that her worry was more for him and his condition, not because she thought he would harm any of them. The doctor named Wilson was cool too and it was easy to see how he and House were good friends. Their banter reminded him of how he, Tucker, and Sam interacted. Just smarter-sounding because of all the doctor lingo.

At the thought of Tucker, Danny felt a pang in his chest. He had left behind so many people he cared about in Amity Park. He knew he had to get back there soon.

"Okay," Chase's voice cut through Danny's thoughts. "Think we got it all?" He turned from the board to face Danny and the rest of the doctors.

"You gotta be kidding me," House stated dryly from his stool beside the board. He then plucked the marker from the hands of a confused Chase.

He drew a line, separating the board into two halves: one containing their list of symptoms, the other blank.

"Those are only his human symptoms," House explained. "His ghost half is having issues too. If it wasn't, I'm sure he'd be halfway back to Smallville and its needy townsfolk."

"The dome is still standing," Cuddy added with a serious nod. She turned to Danny with an encouraging smile, "But I think they can hold on until you're better."

Danny was surprised at her, but didn't let it show. "Thanks," he murmured to her before catching House's gaze. "No offense, but if I were healthy, I'd have been able to go home and back three times already. I can fly at over a hundred miles per hour."

Wilson let out a whistle, unable to hide his amazement. The team also looked impressed.

House, on the other hand, was all business. "And how fast can you fly after some sicko has stuck a needle of God only knows what in your shoulder?" he asked, reminding everyone of the situation at hand.

"I doubt I can even levitate," Danny admitted with a sad shake of his head.

"Try," House ordered him, with just the slightest hint of a challenge in his voice.

Danny swung his legs over the side of the bed and Sam stepped aside to give him room, their hand-holding coming to a quick end. Easing himself down from the high hospital bed, Danny aimed for planting both feet steadily on the floor before he tried anything. He felt dizzy, but that could have just been from being in a bed for so long.

To everyone's astonishment, including his own, Danny's silver boots never made it to the tile floor, instead stopping about an inch above it. The doctors all watched closely with wide eyes. Before them, the teenage boy in a black jumpsuit stood erect, though nothing below or beside him could be seen to be supporting his weight.

Danny made a noise of amusement. "Guess I'm feeling better than I thought." He let his feet drop to the floor now and then stooped into a crouch like a runner before a race. The doctors before him shuffled awkwardly, wondering if they should move out of the way or not.

"No, you're fine." Danny answered their unvoiced question with a slight smirk. And then he took off so fast he was merely a blur weaving through the surprised doctors, but his flight was short-lived as he practically crashed back into bed.

His waist was encircled with the same bright light from earlier and Danny writhed on the bed, a few curse words escaping his mouth. With a final grunt, the rings disappeared and he lay panting.

The team was instantly at his side, pushing questions at him as they had gotten over the initial shock of the situation by now.

"Not. Enough. Energy." Danny managed one word at a time as he tried to explain. He sat up suddenly and looked at his hands.

"It's weird," he said, catching his breath. "I have the energy. I can feel it. But as soon as I try to use more of it…" His palms began to glow as he struggled to form energy blasts, something that felt like second nature to him usually, but now he found himself having difficulty. Small green sparks of energy crackled on his hands, but nothing stayed for long, making it impossible for him to build-up to a blast. "Usually using my energy just makes me feel more… I don't know, energized, I guess, but now… I barely have enough to keep me in this form."

"Your body," House suddenly spoke up, causing all eyes to turn to him, "ghost body, that is, has energy. What you seem to lack is the ability to use that energy to create more energy. I'll be right back." He got up abruptly and left the room, leaving a strange silence.

"So that glowing thing," Chase started slowly, "the one you were doing with your hands and eyes… what's that about?"

"I can make my eyes glow and sometimes they do it without me realizing, sort of like a reflex I guess," Danny answered easily, "I was trying to create an energy blast with my hands. A big ball of ghost energy that I then use offensively in a fight."

"Ghosts fight by throwing blasts of their own energy at each other?" Chase seemed fascinated now and Danny felt comfortable enough with him to enjoy the attention.

"Not all of them. They kind of each have their own specialties… er, talents. Like there's this rocker chick ghost I know and she uses blasts of energy from her guitar so that's kinda like me but then there's this technology ghost and he possesses computers and cars and stuff and so that's how he fights."

Chase blinked. "Wow. That's so coo- ow!" Cameron had elbowed him. "What? You don't think all this ghost stuff is kinda cool?"

"Chase, he's a teenager! And he's out there alone fighting these powerful beings that most of us don't even know about!" She suddenly whirled around to face Danny. "No offense, I mean, I'm sure you're a great fighter and everything…"

"None taken," Danny replied with a chuckle. "You sound like my sister."

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything too important with my big discovery that just might solve the case." House hobbled in with a large book, coming to rest beside his stool.

"Whatever you were injected with," he began once he knew he had everyone's attention, "is still inside you. And it is blocking your ability to take what little energy you have thanks to whatever you intentionally injected yourself with, I'm assuming a raw form of ghost energy?"

Quick nods from Danny and Sam confirmed this.

"To take that energy," House continued, "and use it to make new energy. A process the ghost body is supposed to do automatically."

"So you're saying he was injected with a chemical that stops this process?" Cuddy put in, authoritatively. "Great, I'm sure there are plenty of substances that have been found to do that."

House shook his head. "A substance would have eventually made its way out of his system. Ghosts may not technically have kidneys, but they have some way of cleansing their energy of toxins. It may have taken a while, but it would be out by now."

"Then what was he injected with if it wasn't a chemical or drug of some sort?" Foreman inquired.

House opened the book he was holding to show a picture on one of the pages. "I'm saying he's got one of these babies…" There were a few noises of disgust as the image from the book hit everyone. "Gnawing at his ghostly insides," House couldn't help but finish.


	9. Chapter 9: Tag

**As usual, sorry for the wait. You once again have deadlydaisy8o8 to thank for reminding me that this was ready to be revised and posted. So here's a nice big update for ya! Updates will still be slow, but I am standing by my promise to see this story through till the end!**

**Replies to reviews (cuz we haven't done those in a while):**

**angel_feather_keeper: Please, you flatter me too much! :) Haha, thanks!**

**Miriam1: A pleasure, as always :) And yay me for spreading the awesomeness that is House!**

**Amazing Bluie: Thanks SO MUCH! I love when people quote my lines to me and that was one of my favorites too! :)**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Sorry if you didn't get recognized here, but that definitely doesn't mean your review didn't help! So thank you and enjoy!**

"Right… there." House stabbed his finger at a small, faint white squiggle on a picture of Danny's insides, taken moments before the team regrouped in Danny's room, minus Wilson and Cuddy.

"A ghost's version of a hookworm," House announced.

"Great," Danny looked up from the book House had used to determine his ailment, _Ectoplasmic Parasites Volume II_. "Now how do we get it out?"

"Doesn't it say anything about a cure in there?" Chase asked from his position beside Danny's bed, from where he kept a close eye on the beeping monitors.

Danny snorted. "I believe the philosophy of the uh, scientists who wrote this book is 'let the ghost suffer; it deserves it.'"

Cameron sighed. Her and Sam sat in chairs on the other side of Danny's bed. "I'm sure that's not really how they feel. I mean, I know you said everyone thinks ghosts are evil, but they're scientists. It's their job to be impartial about things like that."

Danny gave the female doctor a you-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about look.

"Let me see it," Cameron instructed, pulling the book from Danny's lap. "These guys can't be that quick to judge. They studied ghostly parasites and their effect on the physicality of a ghost. Whether a ghost is moral or not is an entirely separate matter."

"Ah, but they studied that too," House said, still staring at Danny's scans.

"How do you know?" Cameron asked.

"Me?" House returned, acting puzzled. "I don't know these people personally. How would I know?" He turned around to face the group and shot Danny a knowing look.

The team's eyes all turned on their patient.

"You know them?" Cameron managed to ask, sounding scared of the answer.

Danny sighed and lay back casually on the bed. "They're my parents," he admitted, staring up at the ceiling.

The room was silent as everyone accepted this new information.

"They don't know, do they?" Foreman guessed.

Danny simply shook his head as an answer.

"You had an accident in your own home that changed your physical and genetic make-up and you didn't even tell your parents?" Cameron blurted out, in shock.

"Look, I was scared, okay?" Danny said defensively. "At first I didn't know what had really happened to me." He shared a look with Sam and she nodded as she remembered the accident and its aftermath. "And by the time I did figure it out, it was too late."

The room fell into silence again.

"What exactly do you mean by too late?" Chase asked.

"They met Danny Phantom… and they decided they didn't like him. Wasn't long after that that the town named me public enemy number one."

More silence.

"You really think they wouldn't accept you?" Cameron spoke hesitantly.

"Yeah, I mean, come on," Chase chimed in, "how'd they feel about you getting that tattoo?"

"Tattoo?" Danny and Sam echoed in almost perfect unison.

"I don't have a tattoo."

"He doesn't have a tattoo."

"Sure you do," Chase replied. "The uh, freaky looking bat, you know, on your neck? Or, sorry, is that some sort of ghost thing?"

"Bat?!" Danny's eyes went wide. Sam wasted no time in yanking at Danny's collar and exposing his neck.

"Is it…?"

"Yup, one of Lydia's," Sam answered with disgust.

"Crud."

"So that means…"

"He's keeping tabs on me." The two shared a look. "She could show up at any second to claim me."

"They've probably been checking up on you regularly, making sure the doctors haven't made any progress." Sam paused while they thought this over. "What do you think they'll do if it looks like they're getting ready to cure you?"

Danny gazed at the wall on the other side of the room. "Take me somewhere else I guess."

"We can't let that happen," Sam said defiantly.

"Then we won't," House butted in. "You can tell when a ghost is in the same area as you, correct?"

Danny nodded. Now that his powers were semi-operational, House was right. He would know when a ghost was present.

"And there aren't any here now?" House questioned.

"We're alone," Danny confirmed.

House stared at the floor a moment in thought. "I need to think," he announced quietly. "Chase, keep an eye on his fluids. Cameron, keep doing research. Foreman, go check with Cuddy about the situation in Amity and let me know if anything changes." He left the room and Foreman followed.

For two hours, Danny and Sam visited with Chase and Cameron. They mainly discussed ghost-related things, to better educate the doctors. Cameron listened intently, occasionally attempting to turn the conversation more personal, which Danny allowed her to do every now and then. Meanwhile Chase came in and out of the flow of conversation as he watched Danny's IV, often switching out the bag of fluids.

They were just into the third hour of their wait, when House entered the room followed by Foreman and Wilson.

Wilson was the first to speak. "No new developments with your hometown, I'm sorry to report."

Danny nodded in response.

"Still no way to contact anyone in Amity either," Foreman added.

Another nod.

"And now for the good news," House said, sounding impatient. "Ta-da!" He pulled a small vial from his jacket pocket.

"What's that?" Sam was the first to ask.

"The cure," House stated. "All we have to do," he continued extravagantly, "is slip this little concoction into Danny's IV and he'll be as good as new! Soaring the skies and saving people from the dastardly deeds of evil ghosts!"

There was a small silence.

"Why are you talking like that?" Chase blurted out, wondering if he was the only one to notice that his boss's behavior was a bit off.

Danny was staring confusedly at his eccentric doctor when he felt a chill run through him and a small blue wisp of cold air escaped his mouth. And then it hit him. "He's calling a-"

But before he could get the words out, a large hulking figure appeared between the bed and House's outstretched arm containing the "cure."

The vial made a slight "tink" as it was crushed in one fluid movement by the gleaming metal fist of the ghost now standing face-to-face with House. The doctor had barely managed to snatch his hand back.

"You were saying?" Skulker's deep voice boomed at the small doctor before him.

"You're… not what I was expecting," House said, giving the ghost a once-over.

Shrieks of laughter echoed into the room, as clouds of small green figures seemed to pour in from out of nowhere. Danny and Sam recognized them as Lydia's other tattoos.

All of a sudden House felt himself being pulled backwards and squished on either side by Foreman and Wilson, green energy pulsed around them, keeping them bound to the wall behind them.

Chase, Cameron, and Sam soon found themselves in similar positions.

Lydia appeared in the corner of the room, closest to Foreman, House, and Wilson, her red cape billowing around her.

"Now that's what I was expecting," House explained, nodding in her direction. However, due to all the commotion in the room, no one was listening to him.

The huge robot ghost turned on Danny now as Lydia's tattoos worked on shackling his wrists to the bed.

"Whelp," Skulker addressed the teen.

"Don't look at me," Danny replied, shooting his enemy a glare before nodding towards the group of people at the front of his room. "He's the one who provoked you into coming here."

Skulker gave a slight backwards glance before turning his glare back on Danny. "You would have me turn my attention to another so that he may suffer in your place, Ghost Child? Sounds like you're not feeling quite like yourself." He paused to grin maliciously and raised a steel eyebrow. "Under the weather, are we?"

"You tell me," Danny shot back, ignoring the jab at his morality (for now). "What did Freakshow inject me with?!" he demanded, eyes glowing bright with anger. "Can't believe you've actually stooped so low," he added with a scoff, "working for that prick."

Skulker's fist sprang forward and Danny found his neck locked in the robotic ghost's grasp. He struggled for breath.

"Not FOR!" Skulker shouted at his trapped prey. "WITH!"

"Oh sure," Danny managed to say through strangled breaths, "you guys can go halfsies on all the town's riches. Money is _so important_ in the ghost realm after all. Come on, that's not your thing. What do you really get out of this? What did he promise you that's actually worth your time?"

The question hung in the air while Danny and Skulker held a staring contest.

"Easy," Skulker finally replied, a smug smile forming on his metallic features. "I get you. Alive. For now." He slammed Danny back against his bed, releasing him as he turned to pace the room. "That is, until we go back to my lair and have ourselves a rousing game of…" he trailed off so he could turn to face Danny again. "Tag," he finished, his expression conveying just how fun a game of tag with him would be for Danny.

Danny gulped, trying to catch his breath and inadvertently showing Skulker he caught the meaning behind those words.

Skulker laughed. He spun around and found himself looking down at the scruffy doctor that had been just about to cure Danny.

"What was it you said about this one?" he asked, pointing at House. "He summoned me purposefully?"

"You really think there was some sort of magical anti-ghost-parasite cure-all in that vial?" Danny simply replied.

"Then he pretended there was? So that I would come here to stop him?" Skulker reasoned. "Why?" he then demanded, the word sounding more like a command than a question.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Danny admitted. He then shot House a look that articulated the message, "You better have a plan."

"Hmm," Skulker considered the human before him, "a brave move. Must have had something up his sleeve. Did I ruin your plans, Doc?" His voice turned condescending.

All eyes were on House now. He returned each stare with one of his own. "Maybe," he finally spoke.

"Maybe?!" Danny echoed, unable to control the anger rising in his voice. This was the second time the doctor had messed with him. "You always have to make things interesting, don't you? As if treating a sick ghost wasn't enough? No, you had to go and make the healthy evil ghosts show-up! For what? For you to study? That's what this is about isn't it?! Gah, I knew trusting doctors was a bad idea! You just had to go satisfying your curiosity, putting people in danger, while the only person who could possibly help you has to sit by powerlessly!"

For a moment, silence filled up the room following Danny's rant.

"Wow," Wilson spoke up, "this kid's got you nailed."

House moved his head back and forth in a considering motion. "Eh, maybe." He pierced Danny with an accusing stare. "But are you sure about that last part? Do you really feel powerless?"

Confusion flashed across Danny's face.

"Or maybe you're beginning to feel your power returning… restored temporarily by the nutritious, ghost energy-enriched smoothie Chase has been feeding into your IV for the past couple of hours?"

The confusion was replaced with surprise as Danny really concentrated on his energy. It surged when he willed it too and sparked his eyes, a smile forming on his lips.

Maintaining eye contact, House smiled back.

Danny's smile grew until, "SHOOM!" A bright burst of energy quickly shot from his palms to the tattoos holding his wrists. With some pitiful screeches, they fell away, scorched, and returned to Lydia. The female ghost bent over in pain, her tattoo creatures' injuries causing her to lose energy.

Skulker watched his partner struggle to remain standing and inwardly growled. The Human Freak had given him a strict warning that should anything happen to his precious Lydia, he, Skulker, would be to blame and their deal would be off. But he hardly had time to dwell on the injustice of this before, "WHAM!"

In one easy swoop Danny flew at Skulker, fists glowing and teeth ground in determination. The impact sent the robotic ghost slamming into the glass door and windows of the hospital room. His massive frame shattered the only barrier that had previously protected the confrontation from the eyes of the rest of the hospital.

There were a couple of shrieks and gasps as Skulker's body slid out into the lobby, surrounded by broken glass.

House strained to see past Foreman's head, struggling against his restraints still holding him to the wall.

"Cuddy is going to have your head for this," Wilson commented from his side.

"Shh! Look," House interrupted the lecture he knew was sure to follow, "they're gonna talk again." He watched intensely as Skulker lifted his head with a grunt.

Danny perched himself on the twisted metal remains of the door to his room and glared down at his enemy. "Tag," he growled, eyes set in hatred. "You're it."

**Review please and I'll try not to take so long :)**


	10. Chapter 10: Mom

**As always, sorry it's been so long. Thanks to Tesseri for the awesome review that got me motivated to post this next chapter! **

**Usually I use breaks to indicate a change in time and/or setting, but in this chapter I used them to indicate a change in perspective. It's still all in third person, but as you'll see the first part is focused on Freakshow and his thoughts, then it goes to Skulker, then Danny, then House. Hopefully, it's not confusing. Enjoy!**

"Sir, you might want to come see this."

"Oh, what now?" Freakshow reluctantly turned away from his picturesque balcony, over-looking what he had come to call his "beloved kingdom" (a.k.a Amity Park and its civilians being held captive), to glower at one of his ghost servants.

The ghost, an ex-prison guard of Walker's, did not respond but merely turned and went inside the mansion Freakshow had picked out as their base of operations, expecting his master to follow.

Most of the ghosts Freakshow had working for him were like this: all business, respectful, but no character. And while Freakshow detested beings with no personality, they certainly were the most dependable when it came to a hostile take-over. Too much character turned out to be dangerous.

Freakshow growled when he saw what was waiting for him inside on one of his giant plasma TV screens.

Exhibit A in the area of dangerous ghosts: Skulker. Plenty unique and independent, and therefore not so great at taking orders. The ghost was more obsessed with his own short-term interests than anything that would benefit him in the long-run. And that is what Freakshow was offering him as well as the rest of the ghosts: security. For life. But no, the only way he could get the goon to agree to help him was to promise him Phantom.

"Fool!" He had shouted. "Don't you see? If everything goes according to my plan, you will have absolute freedom! Run of the ghost realm _and_ human realm! Phantom won't even be in the picture!"

But there's just no talking any sense into some people, especially ghosts and especially self-centered hunter ghosts. Annoying little twit.

Freakshow took one last, longing look at what was visible of Amity from his window. None of his "loyal subjects" were out and about at the moment but he supposed that was due to the live broadcast he had promised to televise in a few hours. They were probably all inside, waiting in anticipation for their leader to speak, making sure they had the good spot on the sofa.

Probably? He meant "most certainly." Freakshow couldn't help but laugh out loud at his own amusing thoughts. "Of course I know where they are and what they are doing! I'm the one who programmed them!"

"Sir," the Walker guard spoke again, shaking his boss out of his private giggle-fest. He pointed seriously at the screen.

"Tag, you're it," a fuzzy image of Danny Phantom mocked the camera he didn't know was taping him.

"Gosh darn it!" Freakshow exploded. He grabbed a microphone sitting on the console in front of the screen and pressed a button.

"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted angrily into it. "Go to Plan B if you must but whatever you do, do _not_ let the Phantom gain the upper hand!"

He sat down, absorbed now in the drama unfolding on the screen in front of him. "Idiot."

"I heard that," came a gruff voice from a speaker on the console.

"Good," Freakshow returned into the mike. "And watch out for my Lydia!"

Skulker rolled his eyes and looked over at his struggling "partner." "She's more hindrance than she is help," he muttered.

"What was that?" his boss screeched in his ear.

"Talking to yourself?" Danny teased, still waiting for his foe to make his next move.

With a glare that could kill, Skulker sent a twisty piece of metal that had once separated the windows to Danny's hospital room spiraling through the air and headed straight for Danny.

While his prey was busy dodging that, Skulker picked himself up and rebuked the Freak. "Beam her home if you're so worried about her," he grumbled just loud enough for his internal mike to pick up.

"Fine," came the hot reply. "And if you fail, I will be sending Plan B without delay. It might be a risk, but at this point _anything _will do a better job of slowing him down compared to you,"

"You sound as if you anticipate my failure," Skulker returned dryly. He dodged a blast from Danny and began turning his arm into a rather large gun.

"It wouldn't surprise me," he then heard the Freak say before the sound of static alerted him that the conversation was apparently over. Or at least it was for now. He turned just in time to watch Lydia seem to dissolve into nothing, meaning she had returned to her master. Consequently, this also meant that her tattoos that had been holding everyone in the room captive went with her.

Thinking fast, Skulker barrel-rolled over to the one weakness he knew his prey had: the goth girl.

"Nobody move or the girl gets it." He aimed his large gun-arm at Sam's head.

* * *

Danny froze. The doctors, who had had only seconds to figure out what to do with their newfound freedom and so had yet to find anything useful, also stayed in place.

There was silence since all the screaming patients, doctors, and nurses had evacuated the floor.

Danny breathed heavily, in and then out, calculating his next move. He needed a distraction.

BING! The sound of the elevator stopping on their floor had everyone's attention turning to the abandoned lobby.

Perfect. Danny would have taken the opportunity, but as he looked back he saw that Sam was already a step ahead of him. Wrist-ray out, she had managed to get out of Skulker's hold and was easing herself away from him.

"I'd say you're the one who's going to get it," Danny growled.

"WHAT IS GOING ON UP HERE?" A woman's loud and angry voice reverberated through the destroyed hall.

"Looks like we're all about to get it," House quipped.

Cuddy made it to the wrecked room that obviously was the source of all the commotion. She looked like she was about to yell again until she saw Skulker.

"Or the huge robot ghost thing could scare the anger out of her," Wilson pointed out.

"Nice," House replied. "Remind me to carry one of those around with me from now on."

Cuddy continued to stare in shock. "Is that a-?"

Skulker, not hesitating to take advantage of the new situation, was beside the hospital administrator almost instantly.

"Ghost?" he finished for her. "Why yes, I am. It's very nice to meet you." He brought the gun arm close to his new hostage's face, while the other snaked around her waste, trapping her in his steel grasp. Cuddy merely gaped at the strange, but dangerous, predicament she now found herself facing.

"But I'm afraid the pleasure's all mine," Skulker continued with a harsh chuckle. "Alright, whelp," he shouted to Danny, all business now. "Surrender to me! She doesn't know how to weasel her way out of this, unlike your girlfriend."

"Not unless I show her!" There was no time to think, only act. So Danny did the first thing that came to his mind. As fast as he could manage, he flew at the administrator and her captor, disappearing at the last moment and slipping into the body of Dr. Cuddy.

As much as he hated over-shadowing people, it was the only option he could see at the time.

* * *

House watched with growing interest as he realized that Danny had not delivered a blow to the robot ghost, as he had expected him to, and now he couldn't seem to find him at all. His eyebrows knit together in confusion as he calculated what other possible move the teenage hero could have thought to make.

All of a sudden he noticed a distinct change in Cuddy's behavior. She bent over as if in pain. House's heart seemed to skip a beat or two. And then she stood straight up and her hands balled into fists.

"Her eyes are glowing," he remarked, but only to himself as the words came out quieter than he had thought they would and everyone was too focused on the battle to notice him muttering.

A smug smile snuck across Cuddy's face and she whipped around to face her captor.

Skulker couldn't help but be taken aback a bit by his hostage's new look of confidence. Surprise was then replaced by confusion as Cuddy spoke sternly in his face.

"Why don't you try picking on someone your own size for once?" she spat at him. She then reached up with a hand that didn't appear to be quite all there and reached into the robot ghost's head. When she pulled her hand back, it held a small green blob. A smile of satisfaction spread across her face.

"Cheater," the blob taunted in a small voice.

Cuddy didn't bother with a reply. "Sam? Thermos?"

As the ghost was sucked away, House examined from a distance what he presumed to now be an empty robotic suit. The sound of Danny's body crashing into the wall pulled his attention back.

He turned to see Cuddy shaking and gasping for breath.

She looked up at him. "That was hot," House told her.

Cuddy rolled her eyes.

"I don't even know what that was," she admitted softly and walked over to Danny.

"I'm really sorry," Danny coughed out at her from where he sat on the floor with his back against the wall. He was clutching his chest and beads of sweat had gathered on his brow.

Cuddy and House knelt down on either side of him. House took his pulse and felt his chest while Cuddy used her sleeve to wipe his forehead.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him gently.

"I'm sorry I had to over-shadow you," Danny replied between deep breaths. "That's what it's called when I inhabit your body like that… and push out your consciousness for a while… so I can be in control… I'm sorry… cuz I know it's scary."

"No, no, it's fine," Cuddy tried to console the boy as her worry began to show on her face.

"Fine?" House butted in, "More like the coolest thing ever. You shouldn't apologize."

He was being unsympathetic, but the comment received a chuckle from Danny.

"I should though," House said in a solemn voice, surprising those in the room who knew him well enough to know an apology from House was rare.

House sighed and explained while he continued his exam on Danny. "The vial containing your miracle cure was supposed to tranquilize the ghost that came to take it from me. I didn't account for the possibility that he would be wearing armor or a robotic suit that would protect him from the stuff. If I had thought of that, you wouldn't have had to-" He stopped midsentence.

"What is it?" Cuddy asked, knowing something was wrong.

House brought his hand out from behind Danny's back. A dark red liquid with a strange neon green glow glistened on House's palm. "He's bleeding." House stood.

"Oh God." Cuddy took charge and ordered Wilson and the team to go get supplies from the emergency room while she turned Danny around to assess the damage.

Sam came to sit by Danny and began assuring Cuddy that he would be all right, explaining how he tended to heal faster than humans.

Meanwhile House's attention had once again been drawn to the robot suit that stared blankly at the wall Danny was resting against. He stepped closer and closer, despite the pain shooting through his leg. He had no idea where his cane had ended up but it didn't matter right now because something was bothering him about that robot.

He got so close that he was technically face-to-face with the thing (if robots can have faces). And there it was. When the ghost had left the suit, all the lights had gone dark… all but one.

House looked around and spotted his cane not too far away. He reached for it and managed to get a hold of it. He then held it firmly before the robot face and – CRACK!

That got everyone's attention.

"You know the suit's powerless without the ghost in it," Sam started, but House silenced her with a look.

"There was a camera," he announced. "Don't know your stance, but personally I don't like being filmed without knowing it."

"Camera?" Danny rasped. "He's not just reporting back, he's providing him with a live broadcast!" A coughing attack took over whatever words he had wanted to say next.

"He seems worse," Cuddy observed sadly.

"He's crashing from the energy I gave him in order to fight the bad guy," House explained. "It's not going to be pretty, but he'll be fine."

All of a sudden the air around the suit seemed to shimmer. "What the-" House began, but then the suit disappeared right before his eyes and he lost his words. Everyone did.

"He has some sort of defense mechanism that sends it home?" Sam guessed, looking to Danny for answers.

"No, well he probably does, but that wasn't it," Danny replied, not daring to raise his voice above a whisper for fear of coughing more.

"Then what-?"

"There's something in its place," Danny observed, cutting Sam off gently.

She and the others turned to see he was right. A crouched figure could be seen as if it were being viewed in a fog.

But the fog quickly cleared and they could all see that the figure wasn't crouched, but sitting hunched over.

And then she flopped to the side, her head meeting the ground, as if something that had been supporting her wasn't there anymore.

She lay on the hospital floor, her hair a fuzzy orange mess around her head. Her teal jumpsuit was torn in many places and dark stains covered the frayed fabric and the skin it revealed.

"Mom." Danny let the word out on a choked breath as tears pricked the backs of his eyes. His chest seemed to get too tight to let his lungs work anymore.

Wilson and Cameron were just returning with bandages and other medical supplies, when they saw the body on the ground.

"We're gonna need more than that," Cuddy told them.

Danny blacked out.


	11. Chapter 11: Dawson's Creek

**Sorry this is such a small update but I felt I really needed to give you guys something! It's been so long! :/ I apologize! But I am still like super busy so I still can't make any promises. Enjoy this small offering!**

Danny stood motionless in front of the glass door to his mother's room.

It was a typical hospital scene, complete with one of those beeping monitors with a jagged green line, representing his mother's heartbeat. Not that Danny trusted it all that much though as he kept his eyes glued to the slight rising and falling of Maddie's chest.

Every now and then he would glance up to her peaceful, sleeping face because he thought he saw an irregularity in her breathing and he would anticipate watching her wake. So far these had all been false alarms.

His doctors had assured him that she would be fine, that it would just take time for her body to recuperate. But he had seen the look on House's face when they had brought him this news while he was still in his own room getting stitches for the wound on his back.

"Tell me the truth," he had shot at House, knowing the doctor would not lie to him.

But, "Head wounds are tricky," was all he managed to get out of the mysterious doctor before he returned to his office to continue his research that they all hoped would lead to a way to get the parasite out of Danny.

There it was! Danny could have sworn that breath in was longer and stronger than the rest of them! He looked searchingly at his mom's face. She stirred but did not open her eyes.

He kept staring until he thought he saw something again, but then his vision corrected itself to reveal that what he had seen this time was his own reflection on the glass.

His harsh, green eyes glowed at him.

They matched the liquid of his IV bag, dripping steadily down the tube from the bag, hanging on the metal stand at his side. His energy was being restored, but it wouldn't be enough for a fight this time.

He scowled at his reflection. "How am I still in ghost-form?" He fumed in his head. That meant that even if his mom did wake-up…

He sighed. Just then, he felt a cool and slender hand slip into his, gloved at his side.

"Any change?" Sam asked quietly.

"No," Danny replied softly. "I can't- I just can't believe he would do this… Especially behind my back! So that I was powerless to do anything about it! I mean what was the point? What did he gain from it?" There were tears in his eyes now, but the anger and frustration in his voice provided enough of a release that he was able to keep them from falling.

Sam squeezed his hand.

Danny let out an angry huff. "When I get my hands on him…"

"Danny, stop."

Finally, he turned to face his female friend with a questioning look.

"You're in no condition to fight anyone right now," Sam reminded him. "And even when they get the parasite out of you, you still won't be fully recovered."

"I don't care," Danny sneered, once again growling at his reflection in the glass, his stupid, useless ghost form glaring back at him.

"Danny, please listen to me." The pleading in Sam's tone had a softening effect on him and he slowly faced her again with a new expression.

"Sam…"

"You need to concentrate on getting better. Saving the town will come later."

"How can you say that when your family, the rest of my family, and Tucker and his family are all back there up against who knows what?"

He had let go of her hand and turned his body so that they were both facing each other head on now.

"I can say it because I can't control what's going on back in Amity!" Sam shouted, raising her voice over his. "I can only handle the situation in front of me! And the same goes for you!"

"That's easy for you to say! You're not the one responsible!"

"Responsible?" Sam lowered her voice. "You… you think you're responsible for this?"

Danny turned away.

"No, look at me." She took hold of his arms, but she didn't have to use force to get him to face her again. "Danny, how can you possibly think that this is your responsibility?"

She paused, but he didn't give her an answer. "Some psycho decides he wants to take the town hostage and that's somehow your fault? What, do you think it's your job to like…" The words died in her throat.

Danny smirked. "To protect the town?"

"That's not where I was planning on going with that," Sam said softly, putting her arms down and looking away.

"Sam," Danny said gently. She refused to look at him so he let his fingers brush her cheek and then turn her chin towards him. "You keep trying to lecture me," he pointed out, "but that's not what this is about, is it?"

He could see moisture collecting on her eyelids and he felt her chin tremble as she tried to hold back the tears. "No," she finally admitted.

"Then what is it?" he whispered, his eyes forcing hers to give him an answer.

Their faces were close at this point, but they both instinctively moved in closer.

Danny's hand was still on her face and Sam couldn't stop her hand from creeping up to his chest.

The only sounds audible to the two teens were the faint beeps of the machines in Maddie's room and their own breathing. But then… someone cleared his throat.

Danny and Sam jumped apart.

"Sorry to interrupt," House said in a tone that portrayed no emotion. "I need to run some ideas by you."

The teens stared at the doctor blankly.

"…To remove the parasite?"

"Oh, of course," Danny replied.

"Yes. Right," Sam stated at the same time.

"Unless you two have something better to do or like an awkward first kiss to get back to…"

"It's not our first kiss!" Sam shouted defensively at the same time Danny muttered, "It's not awkward."

The two shared questioning looks.

"You count our fake-out make-outs as our first kiss?" Danny asked, sounding a tad annoyed.

"You didn't think that was awkward?" Sam asked in a hopeful tone and as if she hadn't heard his question.

Now they both frowned.

Sam spoke first this time. "Are you saying you _wanted _that to be our first kiss?"

"Are you saying _you_ thought that was awkward?" Danny returned.

House let out a huge, exasperated sigh.

"Attention _Dawson's Creek_! We have a serious medical condition to discuss here. You can sort out your hormones later."

He turned and began back down the hall towards Danny's room.

The teens had no choice but to follow.

"What's Dawson's Creek?" Sam whispered to Danny.

"I was hoping you would know," Danny replied with a small grin.

Sam blushed. Danny took her hand and kept walking, pulling his IV along with his free hand.


	12. Chapter 12: Freedom

**Hey, guys. So I know you're all probably super psyched that I'm updating but I have to warn you that the ending to this chapter is going to make you hate me. Even more than you already do for the slow updates. I apologize again but that's how things have to be. I can only write when I have the time and when I'm in the mood and that's not too often. Sorry : / I'm going to keep trying though. Enjoy this small offering and sorry about the cliff hanger. Also I should warn you that I use a curse word in here... I don't know if that means I have to change my rating... but whatever. I'm sure you guys can handle it. Enjoy!**

"Absolutely not. Out of the question."

The hospital room of doctors sighed in frustration at the teenage boy who sat straight up in his bed, arms crossed and a frown on his face.

"Danny, if anyone else were to try operating on you… it would be too great a risk." Dr. Cameron had her sympathetic face on. "We don't know anything about your physical make-up, aside from what little we've researched over the past 48 hours."

"Which is nothing compared to the years of research your mother has done," Foreman put in.

Chase rounded out the argument. "I've done thousands of surgeries, Danny, and even I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it."

The three doctors now stood in a semi-circle around the bed. House sat quietly, watching from a stool in the corner.

"Guys, I don't think you get it." Danny leaned forward, resting his arms in his lap. "Even if my mom were awake, there's no way she would agree to help cure me. I'm Danny Phantom. In her eyes, public ghost enemy number one of Amity Park who threatens the safety of her family and neighbors on a daily basis."

The doctors shifted uncomfortably.

"Heck, forget that she has a personal beef with me. The fact that I'm a ghost, in her terms, means I am, by nature, untrustworthy, indecent, and just plain evil. You hand her a scalpel… she'll dissect me."

"Can't argue with that," Chase said, turning to House in a gesture of surrender. The other two doctors turned as well, clearly feeling the same way.

"You all are weak," House spat. He stood. "Stand back and take notes."

The team shuffled to the side as House took the place directly in front of Danny's bed. He gave his patient an intense stare before speaking.

"You don't really believe your own mother would kill you for the sake of science," House declared.

"Well, no," Danny admitted, "but she wouldn't know it's me. I have to be in this form in order to have the surgery, right? And if I change to my human self, I doubt I will have enough energy to change back."

"So you agree she won't really hurt you if she knows it's you. Good. Now we're just figuring out how we could convince her it's really you."

"Wait, what?" Danny tried to keep up, but the crafty doctor was too good. "No, I never agreed to telling her it's me. That's the part that's out of the question."

"Why?" House shot back.

"Because she hates Phantom," Danny reasoned. "Why would I want her to know that her own son is someone she hates?"

"You really think she'd continue hating you? C'mon, she's your mom. She loves you. Finding out you're half ghost isn't going to change that. It may take some getting used to but over time she'd accept it. And you know it."

Danny merely glared in response.

"So what's the real reason behind not wanting to tell your mom, hm?" House bunched his eyebrows together in mock consideration. "Ooh, I know! Maybe because if mom finds out you fly around putting yourself in danger on a daily basis she would make you stop and then you have to say bye-bye to your super hero status."

Danny's eyes were glowing, but he kept his mouth shut. This did not deter House.

"It's not your mom you're trying to protect. It's yourself. Your freedom, to be more precise."

The sheets on Danny's bed were pulled taut as he balled his fists around them. He looked ready to explode, but Sam did it for him.

"Are you kidding me? Danny's 'freedom,' as you call it, involves him having his butt handed to him on a regular basis by freaking ghosts! He does what he does to protect the town, not because he likes the feeling of the wind in his hair or whatever crap you're trying to feed us."

The room was silent, as the residue from Sam's outburst seemed to echo off the walls.

The tension was broken when Danny let out a small snicker. "Well," he casually admitted, "it's not _all_ about the wind in my hair."

Foreman, Chase, and Cameron gawked at their patient's sudden mood swing, but House's expression did not change.

"Look," Danny continued, looking straight at his doctor, "I don't want to fight about it. You can think what you want about me. But whether it's my freedom, my safety, or my parents' safety that I'm worried about, the answer is still no. I refuse to tell my mom that her son is Danny Phantom. Especially under these circumstances."

House finally nodded. He then gestured to his team to leave with him. "We'll let you know when we come up with something then," he said as he followed them out.

* * *

A few hours later, Danny was jolted out of a light sleep by the sound of House's cane hitting the side of his bed. He squinted up at the doctor hovering over him.

"Cameron said you were feeling nauseous." House held out a small blue pill and cup of water.

"Thanks," Danny replied, taking the offering with his gloved hands. "You think it's a sign of something?" he asked, popping the pill in his mouth and draining the cup of water.

"Probably just bad hospital food."

Danny gave a weak grin and nod. "How's my mom?"

"The same."

Another nod.

"If you want, I can take you to go see her. There are a lot of nurses around at this time of day though so we'd have to sneak you in…"

"Right, don't want everyone freaking out over the white-haired kid in a jumpsuit." Danny laughed but it was without humor.

"It wouldn't be all bad. You get to ride in one of these babies." House pulled over a wheelchair.

"That supposed to look like fun?"

"It is when I drive." House smiled devilishly.

Danny beamed. "What are we waiting for then?"

* * *

"That was lame," Danny said as House wheeled him into his mom's hospital room.

"I told you there would be a lot of nurses around," House countered. "And the story of you being a cancer patient who used to race go-karts and just wants to 'go fast one last time' can only get us so far."

"I guess that's understandable." Danny shed the hospital robe he had been hiding his appearance under and approached his mother's bedside.

"Hey, Mom," he said quietly.

House appeared behind him with the wheelchair when he realized he had nowhere to sit.

Danny thanked the doctor with a nod as he sat and took Maddie's hand. He moved his thumb over the back of her hand as he gazed down at her peaceful face, marred by several scratches.

"Oh, Mom," Danny sighed, "What did that creep do to you?"

Suddenly, Maddie's eyebrows knit together and she moved her head to face her son as if she could hear him.

"Danny?" she asked in a raspy voice.

"Mom?" Danny's face brightened at first, but then quickly fell when he realized what form he was in. "Oh cru-ah!" A sharp pain cut the exclamation off as Danny grabbed his stomach. He turned to see if House was still around and was surprised to see the doctor standing oddly close to him.

"House, she's awake! I gotta-" Danny attempted to stand and head for the door, but the pain surged and he had to stay seated. His eyes pleaded with House for help.

House said nothing and showed no expression as he simply held his cane over the arm rests of Danny's wheelchair, barring the teen from getting up.

"House, what are you-?"

The doctor spun the chair so that it faced Maddie directly and tightly held his cane in place.

Maddie opened her eyes just as Danny realized what was happening. He could feel his energy leaving him; his body ached to change back to his human form.

"Danny Phantom?"

Danny saw his mother's horrified face just as blue light engulfed him and all his ghost energy left him.

"No… it can't be…"

Re-opening his eyes practically against his will, Danny took in the shock and puzzlement on his mother's face. The pain had left with his powers but he couldn't seem to catch his breath. Beads of sweat lined his forehead.

"Wh-? How-?" Maddie couldn't form a complete question.

"Mrs. Fenton, I'd like for you to meet your son," House said, returning his cane to his side.

Danny turned weakly to glare at the doctor.

"Danny Phantom."

"Bastard," Danny managed to say before fainting.


	13. Chapter 13: Reboot

"Danny? Danny, wake up." It was Dr. Chase. The accent, which Danny had recently learned was actually Australian, was unmistakable.

Danny opened his eyes. Something was off… he could feel it. He sat straight up in the familiar hospital bed and took in his surroundings. Everything looked how it had before. Same bland room. Same doctors, though House wasn't among them at the moment.

He looked down at himself… and that's when it hit him. He was in ghost form… but he had been in human form when he had passed out, right? And his mom… his mom had seen him change. She knew his secret now.

Danny looked up from his gloved hands as the sliding glass door to his room swished open and House came stalking in, looking less proud of himself than Danny would have expected. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the doctor's expression.

"My mom…?"

House looked down. "She doesn't believe us."

"Ha! I told you it was a stupid idea!"

House smiled. "I was bluffing."

Danny's smile fell.

"She's taking it quite well. She wants to see you now that you're awake, of course. All in all her reaction was quite the disappointment. Yours on the other hand…"

"What? Calling you a bastard? I can't imagine you're not used to that."

"Not that. I was referring to your reaction just now. I tell you your mom doesn't really believe the precious secret you worked oh-so-hard to keep from her and all you want to do is gloat about the failure of my half-baked plan?"

Danny leaned his head back and dragged his hands across his face. "I don't know. You're just annoyingly right all the time."

Chase sneered. "Welcome to our world."

Danny continued with a sigh. "I guess I should go see her. Oh wait, why am I in ghost form again?"

House and Chase shared a look. "We're not quite sure, to be honest," Chase admitted.

"Your body just seems to prefer this form right now," House explained. "I thought we'd need to give you a boost to get you to change back again but you did it on your own while you were out. It's not completely random. Being in a comatose state, or near comatose, allows your body to naturally reset itself. Sort of like rebooting a computer."

Danny accepted this with a nod.

House watched him expectantly. "Showtime?"

* * *

This time when he rode in the wheel chair under the cover of another huge hospital robe, Danny didn't try to talk House into going faster. In fact, if he opened his mouth he was pretty sure he would wind up begging for House to take him back to his room instead of facing whatever it was he was about to face. And so he kept it closed.

But had his mother really accepted him? Could it have really been that simple? What was he supposed to say to her now that she knew? He supposed he'd have to apologize for lying… but then again, hadn't he had the right to?

The door to Maddie's room slid open and Danny's thoughts were silenced. She still had a bandage on her head and though she was trying to look well, Danny knew she was hurting. He felt rage swell up inside him and his ghost energy surge along with it.

Freakshow was so going to pay for this.

"Doctor?" Maddie asked politely, pulling Danny back to the present. He shed the robe as Maddie continued. "I'd like a moment alone with my son if that's alright with you."

"Of course." House left the room, but not without first giving Danny a smug look that let him know he'd be watching.

Silence filled the room and Danny realized he was staring down at the bed. He risked a look at his mom. She seemed to be waiting for him to speak.

"Mom, I-"

"The doctor's still watching, isn't he?"

Danny's mouth hung open. He had known what he was going to say but now that she had interrupted him he had completely forgotten it. So instead he got up from his chair and went over to the large glass door/window. With an evil smile in House's direction, he flicked the vertical blinds closed.

"Not anymore," he said, returning to his seat.

"Good, then we can cut the crap."

"Mom?" Danny was surprised by his mother's tone and language.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Maddie suddenly had one of her ghost ray guns in his face. Danny had no choice but to raise his hands in surrender.

"Look, Phantom, I know it's you. Whatever spell you've got all these doctors under won't work on me, understand? I know you're not really my son. Your shape-shifting ability is a surprise, but not completely unexpected given how great your power ratings are. Can't believe I almost let that one get by me." Maddie seemed to get lost in her own train of thought now, giving Danny a chance to catch up.

So his mom didn't really know his secret. Or at least, she refused to believe it. Cool. But she had a gun in his face. Not so cool. What was he supposed to do now?

The way he saw it, there were two roads he could take. One was taking this opportunity to really talk to his mom about his secret and finally get things settled once and for all. There was a chance she'd believe him if he tried hard enough.

The other option was playing along. She thought he was Phantom and he was Phantom so it's not really much of an act. It's not even lying really… Plus he could use this as an opportunity to show Phantom as a good guy, not the bad guy she believed him to be.

Hmm… so which should he decide to be? The son or the super hero? Son or super hero?

"So what's it gonna be, Phantom?" The cold metal of the weapon pressed against Danny's chin brought him out of his quandary and he realized she had asked him a question.

"What?"

"I said," Maddie practically growled at him, "how are we gonna play this, the easy way or the hard way?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Danny muttered to himself.

Maddie leaned in and pressed the gun against his chest.

"Ok, you got me," Danny blurted out. "I'm not really your son. That was just some shape-shifting… thing… I can do…"

Maddie seemed pleased with this, but waited for more.

"I'm sorry I lied to you. I just really need you on my side right now and I thought you would trust me if you thought I was your son."

Danny waited to see how she would take this. In the meantime he found amusement in the fact that he had still wound up apologizing about lying… and it was a lie. He also wondered what made his mom so sure about him not being half ghost that she would believe this lie.

"Out of curiosity though, what made you so sure I was faking it?"

Maddie's eyes saddened and the gun in her hands drooped a little. "They have him." Her gaze shifted and she seemed to be lost in a memory.

Danny's eyebrows went up. "Your son? Someone said they had him? Who?" He kept his hands raised, but allowed himself to relax a bit as his mother seemed distracted by her thoughts now.

"I went to the town hall. We had traced the dome's power source to the mayor's office… so I broke in." She kept her head down, but her words came out clear. "I fought my way through a few ghosts, thinking they were the ones causing the trouble. But they were just bodyguards. Servants. I didn't know that who I was actually up against was not a ghost, but human… and when I found out…. I panicked. Shooting ghosts I'm used to, but another human? I couldn't do it. Evil or not, it's not my place. You know the one I am talking about, I'm sure."

She suddenly looked up at him directly, catching Danny off guard. He had been trying not to let what his mom was saying get to him. About how she could hurt a ghost but not a human… if only she knew.

"Y-yes," Danny sputtered in response to her question. "Freakshow, the albino circus guy… right?"

Maddie nodded. "He knows how to control ghosts. Make them do his dirty work. You ever work for him?" The pressure returned to the gun at his chest, but he didn't acknowledge that he noticed.

Danny knew that what his mom was asking was a trick question. She had seen the picture of Phantom draped in jewels, robbing a bank. All the loot had been recovered and Freakshow had been rightly blamed for everything, but Danny was sure Maddie didn't think the ghosts involved were innocent.

"Not willingly," he finally answered her.

She seemed to accept this answer and went back to looking down at her hand gripping the thin hospital blanket that lay over her.

"So what happened next?" Danny asked softly.

"He locked me up, let his minions rough me up a bit. I don't remember much after that."

Danny's body went rigid at the thought of Freakshow disarming his mother and letting the ghosts he had under his control hurt her however they pleased. His nostrils flared and he felt more of his ghost energy well up inside him.

Wait… his energy… responding… it felt… normal.

He got up from where he had been sitting beside the bed and backed away so suddenly that Maddie almost pulled the trigger on her ray gun.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Just give me a minute to try something." He didn't wait for a response as he pushed his energy to form a blast in his hands and it obeyed. He smiled and his eyes lit up. He didn't know how, but his energy was back. Completely. He thought back to what House had said about his body rebooting like a computer…

"I said what are you doing?" Maddie's voice trembled a bit and Danny's attention immediately snapped back to her, reminding him why it was so great that his energy was back.

"Maddie, I need you to trust me," he began, slowly resuming his place by the bed.

His mother actually shifted away from him a bit as he sat down.

Danny took a deep breath. "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. In fact, I've never meant to hurt you. I know I've done some bad things, but you have to believe me. I'm on your side."

There was silence, as Maddie seemed to actually be considering what he said.

"I wasn't done," she said.

Danny looked confused so Maddie continued, "I was answering your question about how I knew you're not my son and I hadn't gotten to that part yet."

"Tell me," Danny said authoritatively, yet something about it was tender as well.

Maddie spoke slowly as if she weren't sure whether she should be saying as much as she was saying. "He told me he had my son. Danny has been missing practically since the moment the dome appeared. I had assumed he was with his friends, but I still found it odd that he hadn't even checked in with me. The freak said he had captured Danny as revenge for putting him behind bars. I demanded he take me to him. He said he couldn't."

Tears began to well up in Maddie's eyes, though she fought hard to hold them in.

"He said Danny was being tended to." Her voice hitched, but she pressed on. "And then, he pushed a button and I could hear my son. It was his voice, but I didn't understand what he was saying. He sounded out of breath. And then, he screamed in pain."

The tears flowed freely now, as did the energy throughout Danny's body, causing him to make a decision.

Danny hesitated, but then he took his mother's hand. Her head flew up in surprise and her eyes flashed with distrust. But Danny was firm in his gaze and something about it made her allow him to keep touching her.

"Maddie, Freakshow is going to pay for what he put you through. I can promise you that. And even though you may not believe me, I also promise that your son is going to be okay."

"How can I trust you?" Maddie whispered.

"You already do," Danny pointed out, looking down at her hand in his. "At least a little."

Maddie sniffed. "I wouldn't be doing this under any other circumstances, you know. It must be the head injury. I just feel so helpless right now."

"I know the feeling," Danny said, thinking of how much this hospital had begun to feel like a prison. But his powers were back now. And so… "Maddie, I have to go now, okay?"

"You're leaving? But I thought the doctors said they were trying to treat you for something."

"Yeah, but I think I'm better now. Or at least well enough to get through a fight with Freakshow and whoever he's got working for him. There's just one thing standing in my way… the dome." Danny's brow wrinkled as he realized his plan wasn't perfect just yet.

"You mean you don't know?" Maddie looked doubtful.

"Know what?"

"Ghosts have no trouble getting through the dome. It's only people and other tangible objects that can't cross it."

"Really?" Danny's face lit up.

"Yes…" Maddie studied him. "Either you really are being honest with me right now or the morphine is just strong enough for me to fall for this. You better leave before I figure out which."

"Ok, I'm going," Danny said, getting up and preparing to fly. "But just so you know, the doctors probably aren't going to be too happy that I left. Then again neither is-" _Sam_. Her name caught in his throat. She would kill him if he left without telling her. But if he went to her now she would either try to convince him to stay or make him take her with him and he didn't want to do either of those things.

He sighed. "Just tell whoever asks about me that my powers came back and I had to go back to Amity to face Freakshow. The town needs me right now and you and Sam are safe here." He snuck her name in, hoping Maddie wouldn't question him about it. "Whatever tests they want to do on me to make sure I don't have a parasite worm or whatever it is they thought I had can wait until later."

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Parasite?"

"Thanks, Maddie. I'll let you know when it's safe to return to Amity."

"Phantom wait-"

But he was already gone.


	14. Chapter 14: Gone

"What do you mean he left?" House was livid. He paced the small hospital room despite the pain it caused to throb in his leg.

"Just as I said, _Doctor_." Maddie's eyes narrowed. "He said his powers had returned and that he was flying back to Amity Park."

"And you let him go?"

"Well I certainly don't see any way I could have stopped him," Maddie scoffed, motioning to her surroundings.

"He's just a teenage boy! And a sick one at that!" House went on as if Maddie hadn't spoken.

"He didn't look sick."

"Oh, so you're the expert now?" House practically roared, abruptly stopping his back and forth movement.

Maddie crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "On ghosts, yes. I am."

She thought she finally had him beat, but a smug smile crept across the enraged doctor's face and the team braced themselves for what was to come.

"Pray tell, then," House's voice rang out in an all-too-familiar condescending tone, "what happens to a ghost when a parasite that has been feeding on it for oh, let's say, 48 hours straight finally gets full?"

"I didn't know he had a parasite," Maddie answered softly.

"Answer the question please, Mrs. Fenton."

Maddie hesitated, but the scientist know-it-all inside of her took over and she spoke calmly.

"The parasite would stop feeding, allowing the ghost to generate enough energy to get the energy-making process going again. He would feel better, but meanwhile the parasite would be making its way to the nearest vital organ. Its host being of no more use to it, the bug would attempt to shut the ghost down, allowing it to escape once the ghost's body has…"

"Has what?" House made it sound more like a command than a question.

"Dematerialized."

* * *

Sam's heavy boots squeaked against the shiny white floor of the hospital cafeteria as she disposed of a damp tea bag. She then attempted to carefully maneuver herself through the double doors while holding a steaming Styrofoam cup. It had irked her that the hospital didn't have something more eco-friendly, but she was too worried about Danny to give it much thought. Worried and yet also… excited? Something felt like it had changed between them through this ordeal and Sam couldn't deny that, whatever it was, she liked it.

All of a sudden Sam stopped in her tracks in the middle of the softly lit hallway. It was nightfall so things were quieting down in the hospital, but it suddenly felt too quiet. Then she felt a slight gust of cold wind. A ghost?

Before she could react she heard the words "Sorry, Sam," gently whispered in her ear and could have sworn she felt lips touch her cheek.

"Danny?" she asked aloud. But there was another breeze and she could tell she was alone again.

"That had to have been him," Sam reasoned in her head. "But why would he say…" She gasped before she had even completed the thought and took off running. Her tea went splashing to the ground, with the abandoned foam cup rolling from side-to-side beside the mess on the polished tile until it stopped completely.

* * *

Danny strained to see through the thick clouds spotting the night sky. Normally, he liked flying at night, but tonight he just wanted to get to Amity as fast as he could. His powers had returned along with a white-hot rage aimed at The Freak and any ghost that dared to pledge allegiance to him.

However, flying long distances was… nice. Too much of a stress-reliever. He could feel his anger diminishing. In its place came quiet contentment from finally being free and healthy. He felt bad for leaving Sam behind and he wasn't sure how to feel about his mom, but he knew he had his priorities right. Saving the town came first.

He flexed his fingers and pushed himself to fly further into the muggy night.

* * *

If the door to Maddie's hospital room had been able to be slammed open, it would have been. It can't, so instead it slid open rather quickly to reveal a wild-eyed gothic teenager.

"Where is he?" Sam demanded.

"Gone," House stated matter-of-factly. "But don't worry, we're going after him."

"We're what?" Chase stopped leaning against the wall, suddenly alert.

"We are?" Cameron eyed her boss with confusion.

The collective surprise of everyone in the room told Sam this was just as much news to them as it was to her.

However, Maddie was surprised for more than one reason. "Sam? What are you doing here?"

"Uhh…" She looked to any of the doctors for help. Last Danny had told her, his mom knew his secret thanks to Dr. House, but she wasn't used to not having to lie.

"It's okay," Maddie said. "He may not be my son," she shot House a glare, "but I understand now that he's not _entirely_ evil." She smiled at Sam, thinking she was helping.

"Oo-kay." Sam replied, slightly confused, but she went along with it out of respect for Danny's secret. No matter how furious she was at him for leaving without telling her, she would never want to do anything to lose his trust.

"Hmph." House seemed to be having one of his revelations. "How _did_ you wind up here?" His eyes locked onto Sam. "How did you know Danny was at _this_ hospital?"

"I followed this." Sam pulled the Boo-merang out of her spider backpack. She had grabbed it from Danny's room, where she had first checked for him and the doctors, and had found it deserted.

"It's keyed into Danny's ecto-signature," she explained.

"Can we follow it in a car?" House inquired.

"It can be told not to exceed a maximum speed," Maddie put in. "I designed it," she added when House gave her a weird look.

Maddie held out her hand and Sam brought it to her, glancing at House as she passed him. The doctor seemed to be all of a sudden intrigued by a spot on the floor.

The room went quiet as Maddie went to work fidgeting with her stupidly named device.

"Wait." Something suddenly occurred to Sam. "Why do we need to track him? We know where he's going. Amity, right? I mean, if he has his powers back he's going to beat us there anyways."

Silence descended again.

House looked up. "Because," he said, his blue eyes cold, "there's no way he's going to make it there."

**Sorry it's kinda short. Already started on the next chapter though so it should be up soon, but no promises. Please review so I know you're still reading :)**


	15. Chapter 15: Dananananananana

**One of my favorite youtube people mentioned Dawson's Creek a while back (long time ago actually but I just re-watched the vid recently lol) so I thought I'd share her explanation of the show with you: **

**"See, you kids these days watch shows like Gossip Girl where they're at parties and exclusive events and doing drugs and deciding who to bang. Dawson's Creek was wholesome fun. There were only four of them or something and they lived in a country town and Joey had to run a bed and breakfast and Dawson wanted to make a crappy movie. It was really exciting." - Natalie Tran**

**You can find her on youtube as "communitychannel." And this is from her video "Where are we?"**

* * *

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sam zipped up her backpack and gave a determined look around the room.

She was happy to find an equal look of determination in House's cold expression.

He turned to his team. "Get supplies. Anything you think will help and can fit in a car. Have it in front of Wilson's car in fifteen minutes."

The team scurried to the door.

"Oh." They stopped. "And whoever produces the best stuff gets to drive the car the three of you will be riding in."

"We're going with you?" Cameron looked appalled.

"No, Wilson and I are going to find and tend to a dying ghost kid by ourselves and you guys are going to McDonald's."

Cameron sighed. "Your sarcasm is unnecessary, not to mention time-consuming. I just don't think it's feasible for all of us to go. What if you need something done at the hospital-"

"What, are you scared of ghosts?" House interrupted. "What I need is my team. All of you. Now go."

"You're scared of ghosts?" Chase asked Cameron as they left.

House flipped out his phone and dialed Wilson. "Robin, meet me at the Batmobile in ten. We're going after a sick ghost kid."

"Yes, you're driving... No, you're Robin... Because I can't pull off tights."

House hung up his phone and looked around the room at the only people left, which were Sam and Maddie.

"Batgirl," House pointed at Sam, "you ride with me."

Sam gave a curt nod.

"What about me?" Maddie asked.

"You?" House looked genuinely shocked. "You said he's not your kid. What do you care what happens to him?"

Maddie crossed her arms. "It's not a matter of care, I just assumed you would need an expert on ghosts on your team. Or would you prefer I too take a trip to McDonald's?"

"Fine. You can be Alfred."

* * *

He could feel the rain approaching long before the first flecks of moisture came into contact with his flushed cheeks, but that didn't mean he was prepared for it. Danny attempted to blink away the drops collecting on his brow and when that didn't work he turned his face to the side and rubbed at it with his shoulder.

He had flown in the rain plenty of times before – not to mention all the crazy weather he had endured in battles with Vortex. Something was different this time though… he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Then, as he was beginning to forget about what was bothering him and focus on flying, a huge shiver went through his body.

Whoa. Not right. He hadn't shivered since the day he discovered his freezing abilities. Except for maybe when he was… sick.

No. He refused to even consider the thought that he wasn't okay. He had duties to attend to. People to protect.

Another shiver rocked Danny's body, causing him to drop a good hundred feet.

Okay so maybe he was still a little under the weather. "No big deal," Danny murmured to himself, "Just gotta take it easy. This doesn't mean I'm sick, just not all the way better." He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, but the water in the air made him cough and shiver and he lost another hundred feet.

The air in front of him suddenly appeared to be blurry and his body felt heavy. He couldn't tell whether it was the rain or his eyes, but either way he began to doubt himself and made a slow descent to the ground.

It was probably just the rain messing with him. He was flying over a highway. Maybe he could find an overpass to sit under until it stopped.

His boots touched the ground and he let gravity take control of him, but his legs were suddenly rubber and he dropped to the pavement, his hands only barely catching him in time.

Danny coughed and looked around. He was on the side of the road. Nothing but darkness around him. And the rain was falling faster now. Great.

As tempting as it was to curl up on the ground and pretend like this wasn't happening, he pushed himself to his feet and started walking.

Maybe someone would stop for him… and then see that he was a kid with white hair wearing a jumpsuit and drive away really fast.

* * *

House examined the meager offerings his team had produced in the time he had given them.

"It will do." He finally decided. "Load it up."

He tossed a set of keys at Chase.

"These are my keys," Chase said, sounding surprised. "How did you know I was going to win the contest?"

"I didn't. And you didn't."

Chase looked hurt.

"Come on, Foreman had _way_ better drugs than you. And a handheld electrocardiograph machine. You brought me a nebulizer."

"Then why aren't I driving?" Foreman asked.

"The last thing we need is the cops pulling us over because the car you're driving has been reported as missing."

Foreman rolled his eyes.

Sam looked confused.

"He stole a car once," House explained.

"When I was a kid."

"Whatever, can we go now?" Sam groaned.

"We're waiting for my young man in tights," House replied, glancing at his watch.

"I'm here," Wilson said with a huff as he approached the car. "And I'm pretty sure that in the original series Batman and Robin _both_ wore tights."

"Whatever, you're still my side-kick. Now let's ride."

**Sorry it's short. I really should have put this one with the last chapter, but this way you get two updates and that epic cliffhanger from last time that you all loved so much! ;D**


	16. Chapter 16: I Spy

Danny trudged through the rain, his head down and his arms wrapped tightly around himself. He knew he was headed in the right direction, but at the rate he was going he might as well have been lost and riding one of those really slow power scooters.

The rain showed no sign of stopping. He wondered how far he had gotten from the hospital and if he would be better off just turning around. There was no denying now that he wasn't as well as he had thought he was.

He kept going anyways.

* * *

"Go faster," House ordered. "He's been out here for a little over an hour now. That means he could be at least a hundred miles away from the hospital and going further by the second. If he's not already passed out in a ditch by now."

"House." Wilson glared at him in the rearview mirror and threw a glance in Sam's direction.

The teen was staring out the window, looking despondent.

"Sorry." House adjusted himself from his position in the passenger seat. "Forgot there were people in the car who care." He turned then and looked directly at Maddie in the backseat.

She avoided his accusing gaze, choosing to look out the other car window to her left instead.

The car settled into an uncomfortable silence as the first splatters of rain fell against the windshield.

"I told you to go faster," House muttered.

"The tracking device is only going eighty. If I speed up, I'll pass it," Wilson explained calmly. "Not to mention it's starting to rain."

"You think he would stop because of the rain?" House asked Sam.

"Nothing stops Danny when the town's in danger," Sam replied.

"Hm, sounds like quite the hero." He shot Maddie another look, which she ignored again.

"Sam," Maddie said, surprising everyone in the car. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you meet the ghost boy?"

"Uh…" Sam was caught off guard by the question, but an answer easily came to her. "He saved me. Once." She paused. Maddie seemed to need more so she continued. "Yeah, I was being attacked by this evil ghost and you and Mr. Fenton weren't around and Phantom just came out of nowhere and saved me."

"He got the ghost to leave you alone?"

"Uh huh. He punched him and… and then he told the ghost to leave or there would be more where that came from." Sam winced at the cheesiness, but when Danny goes into hero-mode he tends to let stuff like that slip out so she figured Maddie wouldn't question it and continued. "I asked him why he did that because Danny's always telling us how you say all ghosts are evil and he said he's not like other ghosts."

"And you believed him?"

Sam considered this question for a moment. "No," she finally stated, thinking this answer was more believable, "but he keeps protecting the town so I haven't found any reason not to trust him."

Maddie nodded and went back to looking out the window.

"Cute story," House commented. "Too bad it's crap."

"What?" Maddie turned away from the window.

Sam narrowed her eyes at the doctor.

"She's a friend of your son's, right?" House asked Maddie.

She nodded.

"Is she the type to really need saving? And even if she did, would she ever willingly admit it?"

Sam scoffed. "Of course I'm able to admit it. Everyone needs help sometimes."

House turned on her. "You guys live in a ghost-infected town, where getting attacked is a fact of life. You're telling me you aren't prepared for that kind of thing? Your backpack's full of ghost weapons."

Maddie raised an eyebrow.

Sam's jaw dropped.

"I knew Jack couldn't have possibly misplaced _that much_ of our equipment."

"I'm sorry. I swear I only take stuff when it's an emergency and Danny said you wouldn't miss it!"

House frowned and turned back to face the road. "Wrong secret," he huffed.

"Oh gosh." Maddie's voice suddenly went tight and Sam gasped.

There was a dark shape coming into view on the side of the highway.

"Relax, it's a tire," House snapped. "And stop pretending like you don't care." He shot Maddie a look in the mirror, which she acknowledged this time with a small non-committal shrug.

Wilson squinted into the darkness ahead. "I think the thing is blinking. Is it supposed to do that?"

"It could mean we're close," Maddie said, "or the batteries are low."

House and Wilson shared a look.

"I'm gonna go with we're getting close," Wilson decided. "Otherwise I fear my sanity would finally realize how useless it is and leave me." He muttered the last part just so House could hear him.

"There's a joke in there somewhere about your ex-wives, but I refuse to stoop to such a level of immaturity to find it."

"That would be a first," Wilson grumbled.

"Hey," House suddenly spun around in his seat, "who wants to play 'I spy?'"

Maddie and Sam stared blankly at him.

"I'll go first," House said, "I spy something that's trying to pretend she doesn't care about the ghost kid because it goes against years of her research and hardened mentality _and_ because then she might have to entertain the idea that her son has been hiding ghost powers from her for exactly the same reason."

The car was silent aside from the rain picking up pace and hitting the car roof with a pounding that made Sam sick to her stomach at the thought of Danny trying to fly through it.

She held her breath and waited to hear Maddie's reaction to House's latest ploy to reveal Danny's secret to her.

Maddie took in a deep breath through her nose and smoothed her hands over her lap.

"I think, Doctor," she seethed through clenched teeth, "that if my son were keeping something like that from me, then it would only be fair to let him tell me himself, rather than _someone_ trying to force it out of him. Don't you?"

Wilson cleared his throat, but couldn't hide his smile. "I spy someone who just got burned," he said, glancing at House.

House opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on a window of the car. This would have been perfectly normal were it not for that fact that the car was still moving at eighty miles per hour.

Everyone turned to the driver's side window and strained to see through the rain and darkness.

Sopping white hair and glowing green eyes seemed to pop into view, making everyone jump back from the window. The car swerved a bit, but Wilson quickly regained control of it.

Danny phased through the car and wound up getting tossed into the back seat from the change in momentum.

"You guys hunting g-g-g-ghosts?" he asked through chattering teeth, his arms around his body doing little to stop the shaking.

"Wilson, pull over," House ordered.

"Did anyone think to pack a towel?" Sam asked as she rubbed Danny's arm in an attempt to help him dry off.

A huge fluffy gray blanket seemed to appear out of nowhere and settle around Danny's shoulders.

"Thanks." Danny buried his face in the cozy absorbent fabric and took in some slow breaths.

Sam was still wondering where the material had come from when she saw House staring at Maddie.

"Moms are always prepared," Maddie said with a shrug.

House's features softened for a moment. Then he barked, "Wilson, I told you to pull over!"

"I know," Wilson said through clenched teeth, "and I'm trying… but I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I… don't think… I have control of the car anymore," Wilson slowly replied.

"That would be correct!" The immediately recognizable voice (that I can't figure out how to describe) reverberated throughout the vehicle.

"Technus!" Danny and Sam said at the same time.

"Attention all passengers of this vehicle! Under direct orders I have taken control of the automobile in order to transport you to Amity Park for an audience with Lord Freakshow. Any attempts to stop me will be shown no mercy and the perpetrators will face punishment upon arriving at our destination. Have I made myself clear?"

Danny growled and his eyes sparked with energy. He shook off the blanket to reveal a large ball of energy glowing in his hands.

"Crystal," he seethed and shot the energy with all his strength at the dashboard of the car.

**This might be it for a while, guys. Sorry :( But thanks so much for the reviews from my last 2 chapters. They've really kept my spirits up. You guys are great! :)**


	17. Chapter 17: Reunited

House squinted through the rain spattering the windshield of the car. He could just make out the shape of his patient tumbling head over heels onto the road in front of them, the other ghost nowhere in sight. He grabbed Wilson's arm with the intent of yelling at him to stop the car, but it was too late. Teeth grit, he braced himself for an impact that never came.

Everyone in the car turned and looked out the back window to see Danny's silhouette poised in a fighting stance, outlined by the headlights of the team's approaching car. He went intangible again just in time for it to pass through him.

Wilson found he had control of the car now and pulled over onto the side of the road. The team followed.

Sam was the first one out of the car, but House was a close second, despite his leg.

"Where'd he-"

A rustling sound came from the dark woods that flanked the highway on either side.

House and Sam snapped their heads around, honing in on the faint green glow among the trees.

"This way. C'mon!" Sam was the first one into the forest. Her combat boots easily trampling any brush that stood in her way.

Everyone else followed, picking their way through until they came to a clearing. The rain had slowed to a drizzle and beneath the canopy of the trees they could barely feel it.

"Danny?" Sam called.

She was answered with silence until WHAM! The sight of Technus slamming Danny against the trunk of a nearby tree popped into view.

"Hold still, darn you!" the ghost complained, but Danny continued to struggle within his grasp.

"Let him go!" Sam demanded, finally finding her voice, though as she touched her sides, also realizing she had nothing to threaten him with.

Technus growled and raised one hand, keeping Danny's neck locked to the tree with the other. His hand glowed and there was a clattering noise coming back from where they had abandoned the cars.

Sam's eyes widened as she realized what was going on. "Run!" she screamed at the doctors and Maddie. "He's a techno ghost! He can control the cars!"

House raised an eyebrow, as the others turned to flee. "Can he control medical equipment?"

"If it's electronic, yeah," Sam paused to answer. "Why?"

She turned back just in time to see a white box with tubes sticking out from it in every direction hurtling to them through the woods.

"What is that?"

"A nebulizer," House managed to answer right before the possessed equipment burst into the clearing and whipped its tubing at the six on-lookers.

In a flash, it had every single one of them bound and unable to escape.

"I told you bringing that was a dumb idea," House spat at Chase from where he stood tied to a tree.

"No, you said it was lame," Chase corrected, back-to-back with Foreman, "and this is definitely not lame."

"Glad you're enjoying the show," Foreman snapped, giving his fellow captive an annoyed nudge.

"How can you guys be cracking jokes?" Cameron chimed in from the ground a little ways away, her hands tied behind her back. "Our patient is in danger!"

"If it's any consolation, this isn't anything he's not used to," Sam pointed out. She was trapped by a snake of tubing around her ankles, a few feet from House's tree. Maddie was tethered to a tree behind her. "Danny can take this guy."

Sure enough, they turned back to see Danny deliver a blow to Technus's temple that left him discombobulated long enough for the teen to bring him to the ground. Holding him there with his boot, Danny reached down to grab his foe by the front of his cape that was held together in the front with a button.

He supposed the techno ghost had always had something there to hold his vastly over-rated villainy piece of clothing in place, but for some reason it stuck out to him this time.

"Alright Technus, what's going on? What do you want with-" The button caught his eye again as it seemed to change as it moved, like a holograph, and he could have sworn he saw his face reflected in it. "What _is_ this?"

He removed the button, letting Technus go in the process. The ghost fell back to the ground with an "oomf."

Danny continued to examine the strange pin. If he laid it flat, he could clearly see half of Freakshow's grinning face next to a curvy F. But if he looked at the button's surface from an angle, he could watch Freakshow's face morph into his own look of determination and the F change into a P.

"What do you mean, 'what is it?'" Technus grouched back. "It's the signal, isn't it? It means I'm on your side. So why are you still on me?"

"Because he doesn't even know he has a side," said a harsh, but feminine voice. Everyone turned to watch the newcomer sidle up to the tree House was bound to.

"Ember?" Danny blinked.

"Dipstick," she returned with a wink. "Are you bugged?" Her voice turned serious as she turned her attention to Technus, who Danny had let up.

"I was, but fighting with the kid gave me an excuse to destroy it," he answered.

"Good." She began to stride over to the other two ghosts, but House called out to her.

"Excuse me, miss!"

She whirled around to face the crippled doctor, her head cocked with the slightest hint of annoyance.

"Hi there," he greeted her. "Seeing as we might be on the same side, _his_ side," he clarified by nodding at Danny, "whether he's aware of it or not, do you think you could do me the favor of reaching into my pocket and retrieving for me the bottle of pills that's in there?"

Ember raised an eyebrow and came over to lean in closer to the amused doctor. "Or I could just untie you," she said in a voice that was all velvet and silk.

"Don't be gentle," House returned.

"Really House?" Foreman shook his head and Sam could have sworn she heard a sound of disgust from Maddie's tree.

Ember let out a noise as well and turned away from House with a roll of her eyes.

"Who's the skeez?" she asked Danny, who seemed to still be distracted by the button.

"Hm? Oh, my doctor. Yeah, don't mind him. So what about this and me and a side and why we're not all fighting right now?"

"Or don't untie me if that's what you're into!" House called, but was ignored. Except apparently by Technus, who with a wave of his hand, allowed all the power to drain from the nebulizer and its tubes so that everyone was free.

"Right, let me get the rest of the Scoobies together," Ember said, sounding slightly exasperated. She pushed a button on a cuff around her wrist and spoke into it. "I found where the party's at, guys."

"Great work, Agent Coal," came a voice through the cuff, "We're headed to your location. Stay put."

"Agent Coal?" Danny smirked.

"Coal, ember, fire, I don't quite get the connection." Ember shrugged. "Your sister's _way_ too into code names."

"My sis-?"

"Danny!" Jazz's cheerful voice cut through the clearing as she ran beaming up to her brother and wrapped him in a huge hug.

"Jazz?"

"Finally, we found you."

Danny felt a hand slap him on the shoulder and a voice accompany it. "Glad to see you're ok, dude."

"Tucker?" Danny turned around, Jazz still clinging to him. "Oh my gosh, Tucker!" Danny broke into a smile at the sight of his best friend. "Hey Sam, look! It's Tucker!"

"And Jazz!" he quickly added.

"Really? I thought it was Dash." Sam chuckled and gave Tucker a hug. "Man, you're a sight for sore eyes."

"They sure are," Danny agreed, finally free of Jazz's grip.

Tucker pumped his fist in the air. "Team Phantom is reunited!"

"Plus a few extras?" Danny inquired, nodding towards Technus and Ember.

"Oh, right," Tucker took over explaining, "As you may already know, the whole town is under Freakshow's control. He managed to win over a lot of the ghosts. Since he controls the portal and all. So he's gotten a whole team of them to do his bidding."

"As a temporary gig," Ember put in. "None of us expected it to last that long."

"But once we found out you were missing…" Technus let his sentence trail off.

"You were just so worried, you decided to band together and come find me," Danny finished for him, with just a hint of sarcasm. "Aw guys, I'm touched."

"Whatever." Ember flicked her ponytail of flames. "You know you're the only one who can get all the ghosts to band together and possibly with the humans. It's gonna take a lot to make this uprising happen."

"So I'm the face of a rebellion?" Danny looked at the button still in his hand. "That I didn't even start?"

"We started it for you," Jazz said with a smile. "Agent Coal is right when she says we never could have gotten so many ghosts on board if we didn't say you were a part of it."

"And lie and say that we've been in contact with you this whole time," Tucker admitted, guiltily. "You ok with all this?" He looked at his friend worriedly.

Danny smiled. "Of course! You guys have practically done my work for me." He held the button out to Technus, but the ghost shook his head.

"Keep it. I'm gonna be under enough scrutiny as it is showing up empty-handed. Better not for the Freak to discover that too and blow my cover."

"Well you don't necessarily have to go back empty-handed," Tucker pointed out. "You were sent to retrieve Danny and whomever he was with. Maybe we could send half of them-"

"He'll know something's up if we do that," Ember cut in, "what we should do is-"

Then everyone seemed to start talking at once and Danny's head began to spin and he couldn't figure out if it was from the chaos that had erupted or all the energy he had just exerted. He massaged his temples, trying to keep it together.

Sam noticed and stopped talking. The worry on her face made Jazz stop and one by one everyone quieted down and stared at the hero of Amity Park, looking like he was about to pass out.

House's grave voice entered the silence forcefully.

"You guys can make all the plans you want, but the truth is if we don't operate on your superman within the next hour, you're going to lose him. Permanently."

**As always, I apologize for the big breaks between updates. Just how it has to go. Thanks for keeping the reviews coming regardless. That has been most helpful and encouraging :)**

**Maddie was very in-the-background of this chapter I noticed, but we'll get to focus more on her later.**

**Also, not gonna lie, I may have been channeling "The Hunger Games" a little bit with this one. Haha. If you guys haven't read those yet, you should. They're great.**

**I'm trying to get us to the climax, guys, I really am. But to be honest I haven't even figured out what's going to happen in it. HA!**

**Hope you enjoyed this though ;)**


	18. Chapter 18: Plans

Freakshow studied his reflection in the large oval mirror standing in front of him. He buttoned the top button of the black collared shirt he wore beneath a dark purple suit jacket and sniffed.

He undid the button.

Then he redid the button.

He jumped as there was a loud knock on the door behind him.

"This better be important!" he fumed without turning from the mirror. In the glass he observed one of Walker's henchmen enter the room.

"We got word back from Technus."

"And..?"

"He's on his way back. And he's got them."

"All of them?"

"Yessir."

Freakshow's scowl transformed into a rather smug grin. "Make sure the lab is ready."

"Yessir." And with that the nameless goon disappeared.

Normally this would bother Freakshow and he would make a mental note to chew out the next henchman he came across, knowing it was most likely not even the same one, but letting him have it all the same. "I am ruling over a town of _humans_," he would scream, "How will they ever trust me as their leader if it is constantly being shoved in their faces that I associate with ghosts?! The more human you act right now, the more likely it is that I won't blast you back to the ghost zone, understand?!"

But tonight, he let the slip in ghostly conduct slide.

"Soon enough," he told himself, "soon enough."

Technus slowed the car as it approached the massive glowing dome encasing Amity Park. At ground level, it shone a clear Amethyst purple. It was almost pretty, but the neon glow gave it an unnatural feel and now that they were close enough the group could also hear that it buzzed like an electric fence surrounding a prison.

"You sure you want to do this?" House asked the dark-haired teen at his side in the back of the car. The question sounded almost caring in nature, but the person it was directed at caught the meaning behind the words.

"No," came the snappy reply. "Drive."

Technus obeyed and pulled the car forward. "This is gonna feel weird," his wiry voice crackled through the car speakers. "Just relax."

House felt his entire body tingle as he watched the car glide through the purple surface of the dome. His leg felt especially strange. He discretely repositioned it and was amazed to feel only a slight twinge of pain. He made a mental note to return to this observation when lives weren't at stake.

Sam felt sick to her stomach as the car came to a stop in front of the town hall. A huge banner hung between the wide columns plastered with Freakshow's albino smirk.

She kept her head down as they walked up the steps and passed under the gaudy display. House was to her immediate right; Technus led them. She could feel the rest of their party following close behind.

They were greeted by several of Walker's guards at the door, who quickly took up positions surrounding their whole group and herded them into a huge room. Sam wondered what the mayor used it for when he was in charge because she was pretty sure he didn't use it as a throne room.

Freakshow sat perched on a grandiose red armchair in the middle of the room in all his goth glory. Sam shuddered to remember how she actually once thought of this man as a voice for her generation. He was nothing more than a power-hungry lunatic with ghost envy.

She scowled with distaste, but kept her eyes glued to her feet. Her boots made loud clunky noises on the polished marble.

The party stopped several feet from the chair.

"Well well well, who do we have here?" Freakshow beamed. "Dr. Gregory House, I must say, it is a pleasure."

House gave the strange man a piercing look. "I'd apologize for not being able to say the same, but first of all I have never heard of you and secondly I don't apologize."

"No, no you do not. You don't keep secrets very well either, do you?"

"Actually, that's a lie. I keep secrets very well. It's lies I have a problem with."

"Other people's lies. Some people would call those secrets."

House overplayed looking surprised. "Gee, I guess they would... but that would mean..." House covered his mouth in mock shame. "I'm a jerk!"

Freakshow threw back his head and laughed. "Oh my, yes, you certainly do not fail to entertain. Ha!" He quickly regained his composure. "No, the reason I bring up your inability to keep secrets is not to point out your personality flaws, but because it has become apparent to me that you forcefully revealed a secret that I had planned on staying secret."

"Oh I'm sorry- wait! No, I'm not cause remember the whole not apologizing thing? And as for not following your plan, if you'll remember from that same thing the whole not-knowing-who-you-are-before-this thing?"

"But of course. Well it's no matter now. I took care of it and revised my plan. One must be adaptable in these trying times. Isn't that right, Phantom? You've been awfully quiet. How have you been coping with my new pet? He is quite the adapter, let me tell you."

Sam growled. She hoped it sounded threatening without being too primitive.

Freakshow only laughed in response. "Yes, I figured as much, but not to worry. We've got what... 5 doctors here ready to fix you up? And we've even got your dear old mum!"

Maddie stiffened as Freakshow's gaze fell on her for the first time. She glared back. This man knew her son wasn't just a ghost and he had still harmed him. That made him a monster in her book.

"With the use of my lab, they'll have you good as new in no time!"

Freakshow's voice echoed in the grand hall, but no one dared speak. They knew what he was saying had a threat behind it; it had to.

The Freak seemed to be looking for a reaction from "Danny." Sam let one eyebrow twitch up without letting her face become unobscured by the tangle of black hair she had brushed in front of it. She wore Danny's t-shirt and jeans and though she was trembling over the riskiness of their plan, she felt they brought her comfort.

"Yes, you heard me correctly," Freakshow was cooing. "I will tell them how to remove it. And once it's out, your powers will return completely and you'll be back to normal. You see, you have to be. Otherwise it just wouldn't be a fair fight."

Sam couldn't help but smirk.

Freakshow caught it's meaning. "You're thinking that there can never be such a thing as a fair fight between us, you being what you are and me being limited to a single form... But all that is about to change."

The Freak's eyes gleamed, but Sam held her ground.

"What my lab is actually built to do, oh Snarky One, is take someone like me... and make them like you."

Sam's smile faltered a little.

"I see you're beginning to put things together. Very good. Yes, the doctors are actually quite vital to my plan. They can do it, I know they can. Geniuses like House don't give up when presented with a challenge and boy, have I got one."

Freakshow turned his attention to House now. "So Doc, what d'ya say? I have prepared for you a lab, I have given you a ghost expert to consult, and I have provided for you an example to follow. All you have to do is replicate the results of what a young boy discovered by accident. Surely you can handle that?"

House was genuinely surprised now, though he did his best to conceal it. "The amount of time it would take to gather enough data to even consider beginning trials-"

"I have already taken the time and collected the data. What do you think my robot tick has been doing inside the boy for the past week? Vacationing on his spleen?"

House once again worked to keep his composure, but he could hear his team behind him balking at the idea of a robot tick. He smiled. "There's still one problem with your plan."

"Hm? And what might that be?"

Sam threw back her hair. "Your data isn't here!" She allowed herself a victory smile. Even if Danny was still stuck with a robotic tick in him for now, at least the plan had achieved something. She wasn't sure what that something was exactly, but it would no doubt wipe the smugness off Freakshow's face and that's all she cared about at the moment.

She looked up at the gothic albino man. He wasn't exactly less smug just yet; he seemed to be confused.

Then it seemed to hit him.

"Ah, you think that the only way for me to get the data is to remove the tick from your boyfriend." Freakshow chuckled. "I'm sorry my dear girl but it being the digital age and all I regret to inform you that my bug was well equipped with that magical thing called wi-fi! All the data the doctors need is already on the lab computers.

Phantom not being here means only two things. One, that he is still possibly dying due to the stress my pet has put on his body. And two, that he has just handed over the only people who could possibly help him with that problem to me. So really, he has no choice but to come begging at my door!"

This realization sent Freakshow into hysterics. It silenced everyone else. They waited for him to compose himself.

"Well, you all better get to work!" He spoke through large breaths of air. "Guards, take them all to the lab/prison."

Walker's goons suddenly each had hold of someone.

"You all will be allowed out when a successful method of turning me half-ghost has been discovered and administered to me successfully." Freakshow's smile could barely stay on his face. He waggled his fingers at them. "Ta-ta!"

**So I wrote a chapter for you guys like a whole month ago at least and I hated it and fretted and stewed over it for that whole month. Then I wrote this in one night after forgetting about it for a while and it's exactly what I wanted. Writing is weird.**


	19. Chapter 19: Talk

The heavy steel door to the prison-lab shut with a definitive clang. The seven prisoners stood silent for a moment, taking in their surroundings. There were deep sinks and metal tables and plenty of medical supplies stuffed into cabinets, as well as a row of computers that glowed with dim purple screens.

Sam poked a sleek mouse beside one of the machines and Freakshow's leering face suddenly filled the screen. She jumped, but then realized it was just the desktop and rolled her eyes.

House caught her attention next and flicked his eyes up to the corner of the room where a security camera blinked a red light at them. Sam watched as the light steadily blinked on and off for a good ten seconds until... a pause, followed by a quick flash of green. That was the signal.

"We're clear," she announced and the room seemed to relax.

"Excellent." House slid into one of the chairs in front of the computer and began pouring over the only files on the desktop, which were indeed scans from the tick inside Danny just as the freaky guy had said.

Maddie leaned over his shoulder and began making soft comments about some of the ghostly features of the scans. House made grunting sounds and murmured a few questions back.

"Can a ghost really edit camera footage as it's being recorded?" Sam turned to find the Australian doctor at her side.

She shrugged. "It's not so much a ghost thing as it is a ghost of technology thing. Every ghost has a thing and Technus' is being able to control technology."

"What's Danny's thing?" Chase asked in reply.

The question seemed to spark everyone's interest, but especially Maddie's. She looked up from the computer and focused her attention on Sam.

"He... uh, his thing is..."

"Being more awesome than all the other ghosts, duh." Danny materialized into the room, leaning against the door.

Sam made a face. "Where have you been?"

"Checking out the rest of the Freak's castle. Trust me, you guys got the deluxe suite." Danny joined the huddle around the computer, keeping close to Sam and far from his mom. "Nice shirt."

Sam looked down at Danny's shirt and her arms crossed protectively over it. Maddie and House had gone back to looking at scans while the team gathered up pages that had begun to pour out of the printer.

Danny raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ugh, here." She quickly threw the t-shirt up and over her head to reveal her normal black tank top underneath and pressed the shirt into Danny's chest.

"That didn't mean you had to stop wearing it."

"You're here now and the plan turned out to be pointless anyways," Sam mumbled.

"Not that pointless, at least we found out Freakshow's plan." Danny swung the shirt over his shoulder and furrowed his brow when Sam left his side and began helping the team of doctors pick up papers. "I'm still sick, you know."

"Not for long." Sam cleared her throat. "Anything on there about how to remove the tick?"

"You're holding it." House swiveled his chair around to face Danny and pointed at the long metal table in the center of the room.

Danny looked at the table uneasily, but gave a curt nod.

"Check his vitals," House instructed the team.

"I'll do it," Wilson volunteered from across the room where he had been examining medical equipment. He met Danny at the table just as he was hopping up onto it.

"We could find a towel to put down or something," he said uneasily, "it must be cold."

"Actually my ghost half really likes the cold." Danny smiled to try to relax the nice doctor.

"Really?"

Danny wondered if he were really asking because he was curious or just to make more chit chat while he gathered supplies with more than a little nervous fumbling. He decided to keep the conversation going, but just for Wilson's benefit.

"Yeah, I guess that would be my thing if I'm being serious about it. I think all ghosts have a tolerance for cold, but I have it, like... inside me."

"Inside you?"

Danny saw his mom draw closer out of the corner of his eye, but kept talking. "I don't know. One day, a while after I had already gotten my powers and gotten used to them, I woke up unbelievably cold. I couldn't stop shivering. It turned out that it was coming from inside me and I had to learn to control it. So I did and now- er, when I'm healthy at least, I can freeze stuff."

"Hm, that's interesting." Wilson raised his stethoscope. "This is going to be- oh, I guess you don't mind that it's going to be cold." He laughed to himself, but it sounded fake.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "You okay, doc?"

"Sure, sure." Wilson tried to smile. "It's just..." He turned serious. "Do you get into situations like this often? Where people are able to just take control of your life and lock you up? I mean, where are we right now? Is this even real? Sorry, this is just too weird. Not that you're weird, just that- ah." He turned, putting his hand to his forehead.

Danny stayed silent, not really knowing what to say. Everyone else seemed distracted by the computer and instructions House was giving out. His mom had seemed to stop listening as well.

Wilson turned back to Danny. "Sorry, do you mind if I let someone else do this?"

Danny shook his head.

"What if it's your mom?"

Danny stared at the doctor for a moment, then slowly shook his head again.

"You should talk to her."

"I... I don't know what to say."

"Guess that makes two of us."

Danny smiled weakly.

"I have talked so many people through so many terrible situations." Wilson sighed. "But suddenly, I'm at a loss for words."

"That's because you've never had to deal with something like this before." Danny couldn't help but laugh a little. "It's nothing to be ashamed of... you know, if you're scared."

Wilson nodded. "Are you scared?"

"I used to. Not anymore. Kinda comes with the whole ghost-super-hero gig."

Wilson smiled.

Danny straightened. "Reassuring you that everything is going to be okay is also part of my job."

That got Wilson to laugh. "I guess we have that in common."

"Except you don't actually mean it when you say it." House was suddenly at Wilson's side, still in the office chair. "He treats cancer patients."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "And you, House, only reach this level of jerk when something doesn't make sense to you. Now what is it?"

"What doesn't make sense to me is how you've been over here with the patient for the past ten minutes and I still don't have a clue as to what his vitals are. Go help the team gather supplies."

Wilson let out a sigh, but did as he was told. House got up and pulled the stethoscope from Wilson's hands as he passed by and proceeded to use it to listen to Danny's chest. He then silently checked his blood pressure and temperature. As he took hold of Danny's wrist to check his pulse, he finally met his patient's gaze.

"Everything ok?" Danny asked.

House frowned. "He's right. I don't understand." He seemed to be waiting for Danny's reaction to this.

"Understand what?"

"Ghost anatomy. I've learned as much as I can in the small amount of time I've had, but your mother... She's been studying this stuff her whole life."

They looked over at the computers. The team were fascinated by whatever Maddie was telling them. She made some gestures with her hands and the team nodded.

"What are you saying?"

House sighed. "I think she should be the one to operate on you. The team and I will assist of course, but mostly... it will be in her hands."

Danny gulped.

* * *

Tucker and Jazz shared a look.

"You think your mom will be able to handle this?"

Jazz frowned. "You mean do I think she will treat Danny like a human person instead of a ghost wearing her son's face?" She sighed. "I honestly don't know. Danny said he hadn't talked to her yet. Who knows what she's thinking right now."

She folded her arms on top of the desk in front of the security cameras and rested her head on them. The screens flickered with activity as Technus allowed the images to appear before the two teens unedited. Everywhere else throughout the converted town hall the footage playing was edited to show House and everyone hard at work on Freakshow's half-ghost concoction instead of getting ready to operate on Danny.

Tucker spun in his chair beside Jazz, PDA in hand. "I guess we can intervene if we need to." He suddenly stopped spinning and laughed. "We control all!" He faked an evil laugh.

Jazz raised an eyebrow at him, unamused.

Tucker composed himself. "Just saying, kind of feel like a secret agent."

"Then you might want to work on being more... secretive! Ah-hah-ha!" Freakshow cackled from the doorway.

Tucker and Jazz barely had time to react before they were being grabbed by two of Walker's guards.

* * *

Danny took it as a good sign that his mother approached him without her signature red goggles over her eyes. At the same time, he found himself longing for their reflective surfaces so that he could look his mom in the eyes without actually looking her in the eyes.

"Your vitals are good," Maddie commented, looking down at a clipboard in her hands.

"That's good," Danny replied, rubbing his arm.

"It's odd actually." His mom met his gaze now. "That tick should still be reeking havoc on your system. At the very least, your temperature should be raised."

Danny twisted the fabric of his jumpsuit around his arm. "So what does that mean?"

"It could mean the tick is damaged or powered down..."

"That would be good."

"Or it could mean your body has given up on fighting off what it would have previously perceived as an infection and is allowing the tick free reign."

"Oh... I don't like that option."

Maddie nodded in agreement, but Danny recognized the look in her eyes. She had a hunch.

"Are there any other options?" He asked casually, like he didn't already know the answer.

Maddie's brow furrowed. "Well I was thinking..."

"I could tell." Danny didn't know what had compelled him to say it. Maybe he had just gotten used to acting different around her and now he didn't really know how to act.

The comment got a slight reaction out of Maddie in the form of a surprised smile, but she returned quickly to the matter at hand. "I overheard you mentioning something to Dr. Wilson about having an affinity for the cold and, um, freezing abilities?"

"Yeah, I can freeze stuff pretty easily. The, uh, ghost who taught me how to use the power said something about it coming from within and being a part of me and stuff like that. I had to learn to embrace it so that it would stop affecting my, uh, human half."

Once again Maddie recovered quickly from the images her son's explanation put in her head. "How was it affecting you?"

"I was so cold I was shaking all the time. Sam and Tucker thought I was just getting sick, but I knew something was up. The cold really was coming from inside of me, like from the very center of me." Danny touched his hand to the middle of his chest.

"Interesting." Maddie checked a scan she pulled from her clipboard and held it up in front of Danny. "The tick was supposed to stop at the exact spot you're pointing to..."

Danny looked down at his chest and then at the paper his mom was holding, but the image made no sense to him. "I know I should probably know this, being part ghost and all, but what exactly am I pointing to? My heart? I mean- ghosts probably don't have hearts." He couldn't help but blush a bit.

"It's more like a core," Maddie said gently, fumbling a bit. "But you can call it a heart. It's your source of energy, takes it in, lets it out." She was gesturing with her hands again and Danny realized in that moment that he really liked learning about ghost anatomy from his mom when she put it in terms he could understand.

"Danny?"

"Hm?"

"Are you okay? You looked sort of dazed for a moment." His mom was back to using her scientist voice mixed with concern. She had even pulled out a small flashlight and was about to check his pupils.

Danny laughed and gently pushed away the hand with the flashlight. "I'm fine, I was just thinking."

"Oh." His mom laughed too, but uneasily.

"It's nice to have someone explain this stuff to me, but I guess I never really thought about it much before."

"Too much else on your mind, I'm sure."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah..." He looked down at his boots hanging off the table. "Like figuring out what to say to you and dad." He flicked his eyes back up at his mother's face.

She nodded stiffly.

"I know it's kinda late now, but I am sorry I didn't tell you-"

"No, it's our fault." Maddie held up her hand to stop him from interrupting her. "I can't imagine how I would have felt in your shoes." She paused and then choked back a sob. "We must have seemed so cruel."

Danny opened his mouth to respond but the steel door behind him was suddenly swung open.

"Sneaking in to your own prison, tsk tsk." Freakshow entered the room smiling smugly. "I'm sure there's a rule about that. Guards?"

Danny had swung around on the table and taken up a defensive pose in front of his mom. As soon as two of Walker's goons appeared he mustered up all the energy he could and took them out quite neatly with an energy blast a piece.

Freakshow's smile faltered briefly. "No matter," he said, "if you want something done yourself..."

He leapt forward and the next moment was dragging Danny from the room by the back of his neck.

"Danny!" His mom called out to him, stunned by her own lack of action. But then again, she was still unarmed.

"Mom!" Danny had been caught off guard but recovered quickly, managing to elbow the Freak in the gut hard enough to make him lose his grip.

Danny ran to Maddie's outstretched arms and took her by the shoulders.

"Why were you asking about my core and the cold and all that?" he asked frantically.

"Um-uh the tick! Your core may have frozen it! Your powers could be semi-operational because the tick is just frozen in your core. Your powers may even return fully, but it would still be better if it came out."

Danny nodded, then kissed his mom on the cheek. "Love you. Be good."

Freakshow had called for more henchmen and they each had one of Danny's arms now. Sam had reacted, but also being weaponless now stood watching him get dragged away helplessly.

"That goes double for you." Danny, not entirely sure what had gotten into him, winked at her.

Sam's eyes went wide, causing Danny to then realize what he had basically just said to her. The lab door was closing before he had a chance to say anything more.

All too quickly, Danny was transported down a hallway and roughly thrown to the floor of a rather filthy dungeon-esque chamber where he was kicked and told to stay out of trouble.

"You wish!" He called to the retreating guards who promptly ignored him. But someone had heard him.

"Danny? Is that you?"

Danny stopped rubbing his bruising side and blinked into the darkness surrounding him.

"Dad?"


End file.
